DJRRyan Life

Maui: Warren & Annabelle Magic Show - Thursday Jan 12, 2012

2012-01-17T20:49:00.004-07:00

The Warren and Annabelle Magic Show is a highly acclaimed and recommended stop in Lahaina for dinner and a wonderful magic show. We were not disappointed! We soon learned that "Annabelle" is the 150 year old ghost of a whalers wife who so missed her husband when he never returned after a tragic shipwreck. Nightly she would stay up playing the piano as she used to when he was about to return ... hoping beyond hope that he would eventually return. Now "Annabelle" (a player piano) plays requests nightly for the crowds in a pre-show display where drinks and a light meal is served.

After diner and about an hour of music we were ushered into the 78 seat theater for a two hour magic show by Warren the master magician and entertainer. This guy is phenomenal! He is a master story teller and speaks freely on many subjects ... for example; when he learned there was a physicist in the audience he immediately went into discussions about particle theory.

He was pretty merciless at teasing many members of the audience including four couples who were placed in the front row directly next to him. Giving the men names from characters in the Andy Griffith show. "Gomer" was an Alaskan State Trouper who did not appear to like his nickname too well.

Warren went through many different card tricks, connecting of wedding rings (including mine) and even managed to make not one but two bowling balls appear out of an empty hat directly in front of the audience. Really quite amazing ... there was not the slightest flaw in his presentation and he appeared to do trick after trick that was on its face clearly impossible.

Earlier in the day we went to the beach where Fran was determined to snorkel but when we got to the beach the water turned out to be a little rougher than expected. I had been swimming each day but when I went in it was without a mask and snorkel ... just my goggles and I would quickly get 200 feet or more from shore to swim longer distances and to float to watch the coral below but I made sure I had 6-10 feet of water below me.

I made one mistake and my foot grazed the coral below and a week later I am still in discomfort from the scrapes. Very sharp stuff! I also had seen one guy get a chunk taken out of his foot from the coral and then two young women who had snorkel equipment being tumbled by the waves and hurt by the coral. It was with those thoughts in the back of my head I was quite uncertain about Fran going in and I was quite relieved when she decided not to go in. We did take one photo to show the full effect ... just for posterity.

So after a our snorkeling experience we headed back to the pool for a more gentle swim. Just before we headed back I noticed this young lady in a bikini and I just felt I should take a few photos. Amazing how Maui has these beautiful women just walking around the beach.

Maui: Haleakala Crater and Mama' Fishhouse Jan 13 2012

2012-01-14T11:26:00.008-07:00

On Friday the 13th we changed our minds about hanging around the resort and went on a cross island excursion. The Haleakala National Park is huge and we had visited the east end when we went to the seven pools a couple days before. This time we decided we would enter the park from a different side and drive up to the summit of the largest volcano on the island. Climbing from sea level to 10,000 feet in a matter of two hours was quite a sight! It is supposed to be one of the quickest large vertical climb available on earth. We broke through the clouds at about 7,000 feet and got to see some beautiful sights looking through white fluffy clouds to the ocean below. The summit of Haleakala is quite a stark sight ... quite barren and very cold! There are some long hiking trails on the mountain and many bikers use the climb as a challenge but for us the day was spent in the car and occasionally getting out to take photos. If we make it back here I would love to sign up for "ZipLine" excursion and a downhill bicycle ride.

After leaving Haleakala National Park we went to Pa'ia which is informally known as "Surfer town" and we went to our favorite healthfood store and then a quick visit to the north shore public access point where we saw some of the craziest boogie boarding. The waves were quite large and these people were just doing wild tricks on their boards. It looked like lots of fun. This looks like another adventure for another time and from there we went to Mama's Fishhouse. Mama's is quite the upscale restaurant and consistently rated as the top restaurant on the island ... at least that is what their brochure said :-) I must say this was the most delicious, the most scenic and most expensive meal I have ever had and I would go back in a heart beat ... but this time with reservations made a day or two in advance to get the front row ocean seating!

Maui: Old Lahaina Luau Monday Jan 9 2012

2012-01-12T11:56:00.005-07:00

Lahaina is a small town just 10 miles south of where we stayed at the Westin. It used to be the center of activity prior to western contact where chiefs and royalty gathered and were buried. After western contact it became the center of the Pacific whaling activity but now it is a tourist destination for those staying in local resorts and hotels as well as for cruise ship visitors. It really is quite pretty with it's own small harbor and beautiful mountains on the "island side" of the town.

It is also home to a beautiful banyon tree planted

over 125 years ago in the center square. The banyon is a multi-trunk tree system interconnected by branches that have cleaved into each other.

The Old Lahaina Luau is located on the old burial grounds giving it special significance. The Laua is a "traditional" laua in that it is a mixture of story telling from ancient times to the modern. The influence of the missionaries and whaling on the Hawaian culture. The food, music, story telling, and hula dancing is all wonderful. For those looking for fire dancing ... this is not the place. There are some quite good dancers and the music is also quite good but this show is more about the gentle spirit of the Hawaian people, their traditions as told through the story telling and dancing and their welcoming of all people to their land. There is a pig roasted in an underground pit and when it is brought out of the ground then the feast can start. Apparently this is quite a big deal because I could not get near it and had to settle for a photo of the people ringing the pit five deep waiting for the pig to be raised.

We sat on mats with low dining tables next to the stage. There is an option to sit in chairs at tables back further from the stage but I really enjoyed bieng so close. A couple we met at our table was from MN and it turns out they knew the CEO of Target that funded the MIM in Phoenix.

Maui: The West End Circuit Jan 8 2012

2012-01-11T20:52:00.004-07:00

Depends who you talk to ... an insane adventure .. or just another way to get around. Without knowing either spectrum we just followed our tour book guide book recommendation that said risk was relative but in their opinion the views and side adventures were worth it. Well, we did not have time to do much of any side trips to see the various waterfalls, swimming pools and blow holes described in the guide ... but the trip was WILD!

The views were spectacular and the road was pretty wild. 57 miles to get around the west end loop but the 14 miles that were single lane and 500 feet cliffs just feet from the edge of our car were excillarating and offered views of the coastline and jungle that were beautiful! Imagine driving along at 3 miles per hour with a 500 foot cliff to your left and the side of a vertical cliff almost scraping your passenger door and then having to go around a 180 degree blind right corner ... the only thing worse would have been in the car coming the other way around the corner. That said ... I loved it :-)

The little village pictured below was about 15 miles north of our resort and is a very secluded area yet the road that traverses the coast line cuts right through it. The steep road in and through and out are all one lane and requires quite a bit of that "Aloha" spirit of cooperation to make it all work.

Maui: Whale Watching Jan 11 2012

2012-01-11T16:09:00.006-07:00

It turns out there are 20-25,000 humpback whales in the north pacific ocean and 80% of them migrate to the islands of Hawai'i for mating and birthing their calves and a general respite from the frigid north atlantic winters. The sheltered waters around the islands of Maui - Molokaʻi - Lānaʻi - Kahoʻolawe are the winter home of many of these 40-50 ton mammals.

Fran and I went out on a tour with a total of 18 people on a small, rigid hull, inflated side wall boat. It had two 225 HP Evenrude's behind it and it could top out at 50 mph. I was worried about motion sickness but it turns out ... two hours on calm seas is about my pace and I felt fine. I took some dramamine prior to the trip just in case.

We used our old (five years) camera and it did not have the responsiveness needed to catch the whales as the lifted out of the water but we were able to catch a few pictures.

Our first whale was a juvenille that our guide estimated to be about a year old. We stayed near the juvenille for over an hour watching it breach the water on several occasions and regularly slapping the water with flukes and tail. Later in the two hour tour we found ourselves within 100-150 yards of five whales although by far our younger whale was the most active. We did have one of the older whales breach the surface and that was quite a spash but for the most part they just wanted to float and play on the surface.

In the evening we ate at Hula Grill - Kaanapali. Fran booked the reservation through her smart phone on "Open Table". Hula Grill is located in Whalers Village and overlooks the water ... the food and service were great. We spent quite a bit of time walking through the shops and along the waterfront.

Maui: The Road to Hana - Jan 10 2012

2012-01-11T10:02:00.012-07:00

The Road to Hana is along the north shore of Maui on the eastern part of the island. Basically, you pick up the road at the main city of Kahalui and drive east for about 40 miles. Along the way you see beautiful unspoiled shoreline, surfers, tropical rainforest where they get over 300 inches of rain a year, as well as many beautiful beaches and waterfalls. The guidebook said it is compared to driving through the garden of Eden. The most famous and desired drive in all Hawai'i. I must say ... it was pretty awesome.

We left our Westin Ka'anapali location on the West side of Maui around 7AM and did not return until about 7PM. A pretty exhausting day but we made the trip and although tired when finished we were quite satisfied in making the drive and we got to stop and take many pictures and spent and a fair amount of time in a few beautiful locations along the way. There is no way we could see everything so we had to pick and choose and even then we could not get to several of the "must see" locations.

Our first major stop (other than for photos and a snack) was at the far end of our travel route at Haleakala National Park, the last stop before we would have swing south on route 360 into the southern arid lands of eastern Maui. There we entered a beautiful little world of waterfalls and reshwater pools called Ohe'o Gulch or better known in the marketing materials as the "7 Sacred Pools". That's me swimming in one of the lower pools.

Wai'anapanapa Black Sand Beach near mile marker 32. Fresh water cave, ocean blow hole and black sand beach.

Kaihalulu Red Sand Beach just south of Hana Bay. Hard to get to, marginal swimming, and marginal snorkling but wow is this a beautiful spot.

Seven Sacred Pools, part of the Haleakala National Park. The owner of the Hotel Hana Maui wanted to desperately attract people to the east end of the island so he had a choice ... he could have told people to visit the "Ohe'o Gulch" or the wonderous "Seven Sacred Pools". and even though there are not seven pools and it was not sacred land marketing won out and the brochures have ever since had the more attractive namesake. The Hotel Hana owner Sam Pryor was going to buy the land near the pools for a house but then recognizing how important they were to the local population her got together a few of his friends to buy the land and donate it to the national park system. After a short walk from the parking lot Fran and I were able to walk across a few stones and then have an absolutely stunning view of the cascading water coming off the mountain and dropping through multiple falls to the ocean below. This is quite a swimming hole! I was able to get a few swimming laps in our time there before wrapping up and heading back for our journer home retracing our steps on the north side of the island.

After finishing the wildly curvy road through the rain forest and before heading back to the Westin we stopped in the little windsurfing town of Pa'ia. It is a throw back to the 1960's ... plenty of quirky stores and people ... many of the people look like they still lived in the 1960's and their children also had a little of that look. OK ... maybe I exaggerate a little ... but not much :-) Even the health food store we stopped in was a throw back in time ... absolutely non-descript store front but inside was an amazing mixture of organic foods, vegetarian dishes, bathing suits, fresh fruit, dry bulk food, and candles. And it all worked held together by some pretty dedicated people focused on providing great service and awesome foods in an eclectic way.

Beginner's Guide to Twitter

2011-06-05T08:58:00.002-07:00

I only have two friends who follow me on Twitter .. my one friend 612 who follows me only to humor me and does not believe it yet but Twitter will be in our future! Read below!

Beginner's Guide to Twitter

Joel Comm

Everyone seems to be atwitter about Twitter. The free online service lets users send and receive very short messages -- no longer than 140 characters apiece. A typical Twitter message, known as a "tweet," might provide a quick update on what you’re doing or request help with a problem. Users post tweets to a personal Web page from their cell phones, PDAs or computers. How Twitter can be useful and how to sign up...

TWITTER FOR FUN AND FAMILY

To use Twitter in your personal life...

Keep friends and family updated on your life when you don’t have the time or inclination to call or e-mail. You might tweet, "We arrived home safely from our trip"... or, "The car’s running again. It was just a fuse."

Real-life tweet: A passenger on a plane that skidded off a Denver runway last winter used his cell phone to tweet about the event moments after it occurred. His friends never had to worry about his safety, because they got his tweet and learned that he was unharmed before the incident was reported in the media.

Arrange social activities, even at the last minute. Rather than place dozens of calls to find someone who is free, send out a single tweet. This tweet might read, "I’m going fishing. Anyone want to join me?"

Real-life tweet: Basketball star Shaquille O’Neal used Twitter to inform his friends and fans that he was sitting down to dinner alone in Phoenix. A pair of local basketball fans drove to the diner and hung out with him.

Solicit opinions, advice or assistance on short notice. You could tweet, "Can anyone suggest a good place for dinner in Albany?"... or, "My car broke down in Portland. Can anyone recommend a good mechanic?"

TWITTER FOR BUSINESS

To use Twitter in your professional life...

Keep colleagues and clients up-to-date about schedules and plans. You could tweet, "Any customer expecting a service call today will receive one by 5:00 pm despite the snow" or, "My flight was delayed. Can someone stand in for me at this afternoon’s meeting?"

Search for tweets about your company, industry or products written by other Twitter users, then provide fast feedback. A plumber might offer responses to plumbing-related questions to build goodwill with customers. A manufacturer might respond to a complaint about a product with troubleshooting tips, turning negative buzz about the product into positive buzz about the company’s customer service.

For example, cable company Comcast has a customer service employee monitor Twitter for mentions of Comcast and respond quickly.

The Web site TweetBeep (http://tweetbeep.com) and Twitter’s own search page (http://search.twitter.com) can help you find relevant tweets.

Show clients and potential clients the person behind the business.Customers are more likely to trust you if they believe that they know you and like you as a person. To build this human connection, tweet about your hobbies... your charitable work... or your company’s softball game, in addition to your business and products.

HOW TO SIGN UP

Twitter is easy to use. Visit www.twitter.com, click "New to Twitter? Join today" and follow the simple directions.

E-mail a link to your Twitter Web page to keep friends, family, colleagues and clients posted on your life or business. You can find people to follow by clicking on "Find People" from your Twitter home page.

Warning: Click "Settings," then check the box by "Protect my updates" on your Twitter account page if you want to maintain control over who reads your tweets. Leave this unchecked only if you do not expect to share sensitive information and would like to reach strangers as well as friends. Always be careful. If you are going to be out of town for a few weeks, you may not want to tweet about that if everyone can read your posts.

You also can choose to receive tweets from individuals on your cell phone. Though Twitter is free, your service provider may charge you when you send or receive messages from your phone depending on your plan.

Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Joel Comm, an Internet entrepreneur, Loveland, Colorado, who has helped found such Web sites as WorldVillage.com andClassicGames.com (now Yahoo! Games). He is author of Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time (Wiley). www.twitterpower.com

Our Three Week House Refresh: April 19th - May 6th, 2011

2011-04-30T12:25:00.013-07:00

It took 12 years but Fran and I finally took the plunge of replacing a few nooks put in place by the developer of our house back in 1999. I could start to see the handwriting on the wall as appliances started failing this past year ... but the kicker to get moving was the seemingly innocuous replacement of our 1999 model TV with a big screen TV in February. The new TV would not fit in the nooks so we had to buy a stand for the TV to sit on at the far end if the family room but now the nooks that had looked so quaint 10 years ago did not look so quaint anymore.

So we got a bid to replace the nooks and the artist rendering looked pretty nice so we went ahead with it and while we were at it the design grew to include granite ( a special sale of course :-) countertops, new appliances and an expansion of our pantry to go under our stairs.

All in all the folks at the remodeling company did a great job. The workers from all the various trades were courteous and conscientious and while the job ended up taking a little longer and definitely more expensive than we planned going in the work turned out great and we are quite pleased with the result.

March 10 2011: Interesting Comments by Conference Speaker

2011-03-12T13:37:00.004-07:00

I attended an industry conference on March 10th and the key note speaker was interesting enough that I thought I would write a little blog article to share and look back on 1-2 years from now.

Ken Krieg was the DoD Under Secretary for Acquisition under Don Rumsfeld during the Bush administration. He currently works in the private sector as a consultant with Renaissance Strategic Advisers ... advising clients how to survive the expected downsizing of the DoD. He was quite knowledgeable and his presentation was stocked with data about government spending and quite a few observations about political behavior and citizen behavior. In short we are headed for a near financial catastrophe if not actually achieving that state due to our gridlock in congress.

Americans want lower taxes. In general since WWII our federal tax receipts have ranged between 16-21% of GDP.
Americans want higher benefits. In general expenditures since WWII have been 18-25% of GDP.
Entitlements grew from 5.8% of GDP in 1962 to 15% in 2011
U.S. deficit in 2011 is projected at 11% of GDP and total debt is projected to be about $21T by 2016
The U.S. debt portfolio carries an average interest rate of 3% with an average term of 57 months. The average rate from 1970 to 2009 was 6.2%. If we move back to the average of 6% that means the U.S. will need to come up with an additional $400-500B just to pay the incremental interest. This will have to come from either entitlement cuts or new taxes as interest on the debt gets paid first.
DoD expenditures including Afghanistan and Iraq total about $700B. In CY $ there have been three major up and down DoD expenditure cycles since 1952. Each cycle (17, 17, and 25) has had a high of $550B and a low of $350B so the current $700B has broken out of the norms we have experienced during the last 60 years. This makes the current budget and in particular the expenditures for new weapons platforms extremely vulnerable to cuts. In addition the public support for two war efforts will likely not be there when faced with higher taxes or cuts to entitlements. Ken's projection is DoD will get cut back to $550B on the high side and low side of $400B. Those suppliers seeking to move from DoD to HLS contracts are in for a surprise ... the total HLS budget is only $40B ... implying there is going to be significant consolidation and drives for efficiency across the DoD supplier base. During the last major DoD downturn (1990 - 1995) top line DoD budget shrank 23% but procurement shrank 52%. Implications were a decade of corporate consolidations, no hiring and reduced maintenance.
DoD procurement is cash basis and subject to available budget. Entitlements are the only portion of the budget not subject to annual voting ... the bills come in and they get paid.
Ken's prediction. Continuing resolutions will be passed for the remainder of this fiscal year (six months) but more concerning is the budget process is so hosed up and with 8 senators retiring the electioneering will be crazy with no great incentive to pass a budget resulting in continuing resolutions through the 2012 fiscal year. CRs result in government agencies being constrained to what they spent in the prior FY with very little flexibility unless authorized by congress.
During Ken's entire time in office even though he was accountable for performance versus schedule and budget and he regularly got grilled on this where he got the most heat from congress was with respect to jobs in "my district"
Ash Carter is the current Under Secretary for Acquisition and his mantra is "Do More without More" ... he will be seeking restructuring of primes and driving out redundant operations from prior mergers. He will also be seeking more FFP versus CP or T&M contracts on major programs. CP and T&M puts the risk on the government ... we need to move to a better balance of risk sharing. Also, being "big" may not be an advantage going forward ... the DoD will be seeking lean, smart, agile companies that deliver breakthrough products at breakthrough prices.
Question? Has the all volunteer force been a factor in extending the DoD up down budget cycle from 17 years out to the current 25 years? A. During draft times more citizenry had a stake in where our soldiers were sent, they were not paid much and when we did not need them we sent them home. The all volunteer force is highly professional, well educated and well trained and excellent candidates for leadership roles in industry after their service. This does appear to have created a slight disconnect between our broad citizenry having a direct stake in military outcomes. Another factor may be that most volunteers come from red states.
Question? Will DoD programs be getting more scrutiny in these tight budget times? A. Yes. Expect much more emphasis on audits and compliance. Unfortunately, this only assures that people are doing what they agreed to do ... not necessarily what is the right thing. Opportunities for improving results after a contract award are typically not highly rewarded. IG & DCAA are box checkers they are not partners in performance for doing more with less.
Question? When will entitlements be addressed in this budget cycle? A. No. entitlements will be fixed only when we as a country face a budget crisis. Americans tend to respond to crisis ... only issue is the market determines the interest rates so we have less control than we think. For 50 years Americans have been told they are great and can have as much cake as they want ... it has elevated our lifestyle but it is a borrowed lifestyle. Someone ... actually several senior political leaders ... are needed to lead and be blunt with our population ... we are getting older, we are not healthy, and the baby boomer generation is spending the younger generation's money before they die and then leaving them the remaining bills. Unfortunately, without a financial crisis and a cause to focus on the common good, no elected politicians will have the courage to say raise taxes or cut back on what people think of as things they are entitled to.

The Enneagram February 11-12, 2011

2011-02-12T20:28:00.004-07:00

Fran and I attended an Enneagram session led by well known author and theologian Richard Rohr on Friday evening and all day Saturday February 11th and 12th. This is the first time we have done something like this but I hope we continue this journey of self-discovery.

The "Enneagram" ... roughly translates as "nine drawing". OK, a little too rough ... the Enneagram is a circle drawing with nine points on it representing the ways in which nine different personality types perceive and defend their realities. More like "nine ideas". The Enneagram and supporting tools help us recognize who we are on this spectrum of nine personality types and with work examines whether we are living trapped within ourselves or free from self-imposed constraints. Spiritual directors have used it for centuries to recognize personalities and their very predictable behaviors ... a tool to quickly assess individuals and groups.

If you have ever taken the Myers Briggs personality assessment you will catch on to the beginning of what it means to know your Enneagram personality type. While Myers Briggs helps us understand the motivations of others and how we may optimize our interactions the thought process behind the Enneagram goes much deeper and is a tool that has the potential to change how you approach life. If taught and received it will lead to accepting others, greater compassion, and better living.

Feb 11th Friday night:

Our personalities according to Rohr are 1/3 nature, 1/3 nurture and 1/3 choice and we all have blinders ... to see what our ego lets us see and excluding things we are not predisposed to. Even if we can see that our personality and behavior causes us pain and makes us miserable the ego will resist change.

No one consciously does evil but what we do in our self-centered ego driven world is to rationalize the behavior as good. A dualistic thinking often drives us ... things are either good or bad ... right or wrong. The true key to life is to transcend dualistic thinking and moving to a higher plane of thought ... contemplative thinking.

Rohr mentioned a couple passages from the bible;

1] In Genesis when God told Adam & Eve they could eat from any tree in the garden but not to eat from the tree of good and evil ... this metaphorically can be looked at as being warned from the beginning not to be judgmental of each other. As we gained knowledge human beings especially religious types have used their knowledge to judge others. This is contrasted with Jesus and his actions ... he was not angry with sinners but with those who denied being sinners.

2] In Philippians 3 the apostle Paul was an example of the first personality a person who behaves based on gut instinct and is a perfectionist. Paul (Saul at the time) was a person driven by compulsion to be the best at what he did and rewarded by his society for being so. He was compliant to the dominant culture until his conversion.

We have a "Home Base" ... either Instinct (from the gut, internalized), Intellectual (we think our way through) or Emotional (masters of building or destroying relationships ... takes on the needs of others). Within each of these home bases and the three personality types within each we are either compulsive (trapped within) or redeemed (freed from our demons). Unless we tame our demons we will never know our angels. Our goal no matter what personality type we are is to move to a redeemed state.

All humans are "wounded" in their feeling function ... we feel incorrectly. As humans we have an enormous capacity to misjudge others.

Rohr told a telling and somewhat humorous story .... when Mother Theresa died there was a tremendous void in the 1,000+ order of nuns she left behind. They were beside themselves and the Cardinal of Calcutta called Richard. He had heard of Richard as someone who may be able to help. Richard spent three weeks in Calcutta speaking to the order and helping them work through their grief and developing new leaders to take the place of Theresa. Mother Theresa was an "8" a personality that takes charge but she had not developed leaders to take her place when she was gone. The Cardinal told the story of how she would pound on his door in the middle of the night to demand his attention and tell of things the poor needed. Then there was the businessman who told Richard the story of how Mother Theresa came to his door and told him that God told her that he was to give her his factory for the production of things for the poor ... and the man gave her his factory. Such is the power of the convicted "8" personality.

Rohr lamented the state of our national discourse ... infantile. To him, with all the churches we have in the US, it means that churches are not doing a good job helping people move beyond the infantile thinking. From a quote attributed to Carl Jung ... 95% of the people live their lives 95% unconscious.

Next came an overview of Personality Types:

Type 1: The Perfectionist, the good little boy or girl, be on time, be good, be clean. Life is serious filled with problems to be solved. Tired of being critical. Your face and body and movement take the Type 1. This was SO evident in the panel session when four Type 1’s were called up. Their body language, the set of their faces and their movements were rigid and stern. Jesus did not focus on order he focused on the sinner. Our church has been led by 1’s in its history creating rigidity and rules about right and wrong dualistic thinking.

Country - Switzerland

Animal - The Barking Dog, The Working Ant

Sin - Resentment, Virtue - Serenity

Type 1’s & 6’s who emphasized original sin and moralism have taught the Christian tradition. This has led to rules, guilt and people judging each other. Richard joined the Franciscans and was mentored by a "7" ... a leader that emphasized a loving relationship with God and each other.

Type 2: The Giver. The natural servants of the world who gives generously but makes you feel they are doing so because they must. The keep interior lists to show them how superior they are and what you owe me because of what I gave you. They take on other peoples needs. Repress their own needs and they don’t even know their own needs.

Country - Italy

Animal - Licking Puppy

Sin - Pride, Virtue - Humility

The game is over for a 2 when they realize they do things not because they love others but because they want to be loved.

February 12th, 2011: Saturday morning

Type 3: The Performer. Often handsome / pretty, good build, the camelian, effective. Cry easily. Wounded in the feeling function. They have other people’s feelings. Embroider the truth. Achievement oriented. The children of 3’s that are most like the parent have difficulty.

Dresses to expectations. America is the "3" country ... we know how to look good, we manicure the truth, we mirror the best qualities the group wants to embody. But this is also how the world views America … i.e. as posers.

Country - America, Israel

Animal - Race Horse

Sin - Deceit, Virtue – Integrity

Pragmatism – if it works it must be true. Deeper principles are not needed as effectiveness is truth. Revelation requires a failure. Good efficiency experts. Drama queen. Sante Fe is the capital of 4dom.

Type 4: The Romantic. Be classy. Grease the wheels of life. Do not be like others. Will not conform and they need to be special. Love black. 4s built Americas movie industry. Love the metaphor of reality more than reality. They are serious about their creativity. Japan is highly ritual and elegant. Esthetic perfectionist. Love depth and search for self-understanding. It is a burden to have the best taste in the room. Their whole life is in search of their authentic self. 4’s have a natural eye for ritual and art. The ritual allows depth. Tragedy and sadness is where special ness and creativity are found. Almost nothing can shock a 4. Sharing experiences and mistakes and failures is a way a 4 can relate to you.

Country - Japan, France

Animal – Peacock

Sin – Envy, Virtue – Equanimity (calm non-dualistic thinking)

Type 5: The Observer – the world is a dangerous place. A mistress of perception. Relishes gathering of books, ideas, knowledge and a mania for research. Appear as nerds and emotionally stingy and giving of self. Avoidance of engagement and intimacy. Need private space. Good powers of observation and clarity of thought and objectivity. Calm clear-headed advice. It is important for a 5 to know the answer. The eye is the center of gravity. An inordinate number wear glasses. Good observers of inner self. Will provide way more data than necessary. 4s and 5s often do not get along … marriage not recommended. Thomas Mertens a very influential catholic author was a 5 with a strong 4 wing.

Country – British Isles

Animal – Barn Owl

Sin – Detachment, Virtue – Detachment

Type 6: The Loyal Skeptic – very difficult to go against authority. Rohr estimates that 50% of all people are 6’s and 25% are 9’s. Head people personified. They try to control everything by thinking. Fear is controlled by the head of the institution (Politicians, Fox News, Catholicism, Islam, Hitler) … top down driven fear plays well to 6’s and they respond to this type of message. 6’s glorify things and weapons to defend oneself. War economics are driven by 6’s. The “Phobic 6” is always running from fear and they do what they are told; faithful, humble, loyal, responsible, they always are looking for needs of others. The “Counter Phobic 6” charges when threatened. Daredevils charge into their fear. Total loyalists, my religion versus yours. GW Bush was a CP6 – limited on flexibility of options. Did you know “be not afraid” is the most mentioned phrase in the bible? The biggest sin / demon is unnamed for what it is – fear. Conversion requires operating out of different channels. Wonderful, stalwart, faithful personalities if converted to operate out of their virtue - courage. Conversion of the 6 requires pairing the 6 with good leadership. If they are continually around paranoid, anxious people they will not convert. Phobic 6’s ask endless questions to be clear and to address anxiety. Most naturally humble. Reliable, loyal, the glue to society.

Country – Germany

Animal – Mouse Deer, Rhinoceros

Sin – Fear, Virtue – Courage

Type 7: The Epicure – Avoids the downside of everything. Dualistic thinker. Eliminate the boring. Fill the world with endless possibilities. Normally extroverted but can be introvert. Everyone else can be down but a 7 will keep everyone up. They don’t age like everyone else. The classic hedonist. The fun is in the planning for the event …not the event. St Francis of Assisi was a 7 with a positive worldview but overdid the asceticism to compensate. When the panel of four 7’s got on stage they were beaming from ear to ear and ever optimistic.

Country – Brazil, Philippines

Animal – Otter, Butterfly

Sin – Gluttonous for fun and excitement and don’t know how to stop, Virtue – Joy

Type 8: The Protector – passionate, juice drives to reality, going for broke, appears to others as overstating the case. 8’s love to expose pretentious behavior and can make many angry. Angry at injustice. Endless passion for those on margins. Most revolutionaries and reformers are 8’s. They can walk into the room and sense where the power is … they want to take that power. 8’s create change. Oppressed cities and countries produce an inordinate number of 8’s and counter phobic 6’s. Men are more accepted as 8’s than women. 8’s at their worst revel in violence. Killing of the bull in Spain is the archetypical 8 behavior. Liberation theology came from the critique of power. When the panel of four 8’s got on stage their body type (big & heavy) was very evident. Physically they were bigger than every other group and talked in terms of dominating.

Country – Spain

Animal – Bull

Sin – Lust, Virtue – Passion that can be confused and interpreted as anger

Type 9: The Mediator – It is not OK to assert oneself. At the top of the circle, Passive /Aggressive. Motivation is to harmonize but that can look like weakness. Refuse to get flustered, tone down the energy. By temperament do not have enemies. They do a lot but can be called lazy, as they do not engage at the same level as a 3. Lots of unhealthy 9’s go along they join in to participate in groups. They need to be woken up and educated. A high percentage of alcoholics and those in jail are 9’s. They avoid doing. Awakened and educated 9’s multi-task and are high performing. The wings are 1’s and 8’s and if developed lead to highly effective focused, harmonizing 9’s. 6’s and 9’s are the most humble of people. Not a self-initiator. The Type 9 with their low energy are often left out of the conversation.

Country – Indigenous people

Animal – Donkey, Elephant

Sin – Lazy, Virtue – Decisive Action

Arizona has been elevated on the national stage as a state of hate, intolerance, and ignorance. AZ politicians are illustrative of the last gasp of the white male hierarchical structure.

The Albuquerque Enneagram program focuses on male change. The Enneagram accesses the male psyche like no other – Thought… possible connection to males who perpetuate domestic violence?

Dec 31st 2010 Birthday Swim

2010-12-31T16:40:00.006-07:00

December 31st ... 5:30 AM ... swimming in 29 degree weather ... what were we thinking :-) ? Well, it turns out Friday's are usually the biggest turnout of the week for the Cactus Pool Sun Devil Masters swim team as we do lap swimming and water polo. This morning was no different ... we had 10 people playing water polo in the diving well and about 15 people doing lap swimming on the 50 meter course ... but it HAD to be the coldest day of the year. It was good fun though and I would take 29 degree weather without wind over a 40 degree day with 20 mph winds (like we had earlier this week) any time! Still ... it was way cold getting from the comfortable 82 degree water into the locker room for a warm shower and change of clothes. Afterwards we did our normal Friday morning bagel meeting at the local Einstein's.

The accompanying photos show some folks in the water for lap swimming and our big table at Einstein's where we often solve all the world's problems over bagels. Those problems we don't solve we save till the following week :-)

The photo of the pool does not show the full effect of the fog hanging over the pool on cold dry mornings. Especially in the diving well where we were playing polo ... with all the churning of the water there is quite a bit more fog and you cannot see more than 15 yards when you are at water level ... this made passing the ball in water polo a little more difficult than normal. There were more than a couple passes that either went by or hit the receiver in the head before they saw the ball.

It made it extra nice that it was my birthday and I could celebrate it with good friends.

2010 Dec 21st Lunar Eclipse Swim

2010-12-17T08:51:00.003-07:00

The big lunar eclipse swim workout is coming up on the morning of December 21st!!! Woo Hoo! Should be plenty of fun and certainly something to remember ... like "what were we thinking?" :-)

We are not sure how many will attend the workout but it will be at the ASU competition pool from 12:30AM to 1:40AM ... and all backstroke so we can watch the lunar eclipse. We have plenty of people saying "I'll be there" but this is in the middle of the night and swimmers tend to fall asleep at 9:30PM.

2010 Thanksgiving & 35th Reunion

2010-12-01T19:54:00.012-07:00

Fran and I traveled to Schenectady, NY for the Thanksgiving Holiday to visit my sister Bonnie, her husband Charlie and my Mom visiting from Florida. It worked out to be a wonderful five days of visiting family and attending my 35th high school reunion. We dreaded leaving on Wednesday the 25th the day before Thanksgiving but ... it turned out to be not so bad. By the time we left Phoenix in the afternoon the crowds had thinned and we had clear sailing through Vegas and then into Albany.

We arrived in Albany airport at about 12:30AM and given the late hour the potential for significant delays due to weather and or the threatened slow down because of people opting out of x-ray screening we asked that no one pick us up at the airport and we rented a car and stayed at a hotel near the airport. That turned out to be a good choice as the first night’s sleep after travel … especially late night travel is the worst. Bonnie, Mom and Charlie and Fran and I all got to get a good night’s sleep.

Charlie was even able to get in a bike ride before we got to their house late morning.

In early afternoon Charlie and I were able to Skype with his son Kyle in the Ukraine. Kyle is in the Peace Corp and is teaching journalism in a high school. One of the things he brought up that he is most proud about is the starting of a school newspaper that his journalism students will take over when he leaves at the beginning of 2012. His cycle is about three months later than Julie’s as she is scheduled to leave the Peace Corp at the end of November, 2011.

Thanksgiving Dinner at Bonnie and Charlie’s was quite good and Mary (Charlie’s Mom) joined Bonnie, Charlie, Mom, Fran and Dave for the meal. It was so nice to have such a nice meal (and I should talk) all prepared for us the only downside was we had no leftovers :-(

Friday the 26th we had lunch with Fran’s sister Laurel at the Chile’s restaurant on route 7. We had quite a nice lunch and afterwards we went to the Rotterdam Mall where Fran and Laurel went shopping. Before saying goodbye we stopped back to her apartment on Union Street and she gave a quick tour of her apartment and her collections.

Funny note about the stop in Rotterdam Mall when I left Fran and Laurel at the women’s department I turned the corner and came face to face with Jackie Matson. We had not seen each other in over 20 years so it was a little shock to both of us but became a funny little conversation piece at the reunion dinner the next night.

Saturday the 27th Fran and I met her cousin Kathy for breakfast at the Route 20 Western Gateway Diner near the Cross Gates mall near Colonie Center. We had a great time catching up on Kathy’s family and sharing the stories of our family.

When we returned from breakfast Charlie, Fran and Dave took a 3 mile hike into Thatcher Park from the trail head near Charlie and Bonnie’s home. The trail leads out to the launch point for gliders as they jump off a cliff and catch the updrafts coming from the valley below. Fran took the lead on the way in and the way out … her long legs coupled with her strength training this past year has left her quite strong and she got Charlie and I winded from the quick pace.

The Saturday evening was the big reunion in Scotia at the “River Stone Manor”. The RSM is quite the nice place for weddings and events.

About 115 people attended the 35^th reunion and time flew by as Fran and I had a wonderful meal and sat with friends of mine from many years ago. Jackie Matson, Joan Horgan, and Sue Small sat with us along with Mike Boyarski and his wife Kim, and Bob Massaroni.

I met up with George Alper at the reunion and he is so much the same as when I saw him 25 years before. We talked about his teaching days in Awautukee in the late 90s and early 00’s and the trouble he got in with the local school board when he donated money and got a significant value of Microsoft software donated.

His latest gig is rallying the roofing repair community in the Phoenix Valley to refurbish homes in the valley that were damaged by hail storms earlier this year. Apparently there is $2B worth of insurance checks that have been written but not enough contractors to go after the money. Anyway, George is leading an effort to take on some of that work.

Al Chris is also in the Phoenix area and has been for close to 30 years and is involved with Arabian horse breeding and training. I said I would try to connect with both Al and George in the coming months.

I got to sit next to Joan Horgan at the Reunion dinner. We were able to talk about our families and up to present times. We did not have enough time to talk but it was nice sitting next to her as it brought back many memories of when our families used to do things together.

We were quite saddened to hear of the deaths of many people (22 from class of ’75 listed) we had lost touch with over the last 25 years including Tom Butch who died six years ago in a terrible accident with an asphalt truck that lost its breaks and toppled onto his car. Another surprise was Tim Easley who jumped to his death just two weeks before from the cliffs of Thatcher Park.

Sunday the 28th we had breakfast at “The Home Front” in Altamont and we learned a great deal about WWII from the owner who spent a lot of time with us going over the history of her restaurant. The owner has become quite involved in making sure the stories of WWII veterans are not lost so she participates in many events honoring them. She mentioned that a number of Medal of Honor winners have come to her place for breakfast. Tim Russert even stopped in after attending a wedding in Altamont one day and they had a long conversation. She was quite happy to be in the audience of a formal dinner where Russert was a speaker and he talked of several themes and points of view that she had expressed in their conversation at her restaurant. Charlie eats breakfast there most Wednesday mornings on his day off. He said he often spends an hour or more there reading up on materials.

After breakfast we took the long way home going out Route 156 from Altamont and stopped at the “Indian Ladder Farms” country store. This country store was quite well stocked with fall and Christmas items and would be a great place to visit during apple harvest season.

In the afternoon Fran and Dave took a walk to Thompson’s Lake … round trip about 4 ½ miles. I love this lake having spent many weeks over many summers at the camp grounds swimming and playing softball. Funny how big that field seemed when we were playing as kids … to hit a ball to the outfield woods was a “monster” hit.

The NCIS marathon was on most of Sunday … at first I only watched an episode because everyone else was but after the second episode I ended up watching a total of four J this NCIS is quite good!

In the evening Charlie and Dave went to the local tavern to buy pizzas and have a beer then brought the pizza home for dinner with Fran and Mom. It is pretty quiet up in East Berne and the time we spent at the tavern was nice and relaxing!

Monday morning we had breakfast with Fran's aunt Annie and her brother Dave. I had not seen Fran’s Aunt Annie in about six years so it was quite nice for me to see Annie again and join her for breakfast at Oliver’s Café on Route 50. Fran had called her brother David and he joined us at the café. Annie may be turning 90 in January but she is quick as a whip and we had such a wonderful conversation about our respective families.

There was an expression written on the wall over the Oliver counter and went something like “Appreciation left unexpressed is like a gift unopened”. I thought the expression quite nice and I may not have captured it exactly right but it gets the point across. The Blueberry pancakes at Oliver’s were big hit.

After breakfast, Fran and I went to Annie’s and visited for a while looking at old family photos and Stan’s WRGB treasure book containing personal stories from many of the employees celebrating their 75^th anniversary as a TV station. Interestingly, the WRGB initials are from one of the early leaders of the station … I knew radio stations started with “W” east of the Mississippi and “K” to the west. I wonder if the W in “Walter” led to this designation for all eastern radio and TV stations? Another little tidbit I picked up in the 75^th anniversary book was that a GE scientist had the world’s firsts broadcast TV from his home to four executives … his work later turned into WRGB.

Just before departing from Albany we (Fran & Dave) had lunch with Bonnie and Mom at Macaroni Grill. I love Macaroni Grill and in addition to enjoying the food we spent lots of time musing about Mom’s favorite show NCIS and their characters. Everyone agreed the Mossad character brings quite an edge to the show. I was not quite into this show before arriving in Altamont but after watching a few episodes and listening to Mom’s enthusiasm I think I’ll start watching it J

4th annual "Hour of Power" is in the record books!

2010-10-09T18:42:00.000-07:00

Arizona masters swimmers complete 1500 yard fly set.

Scottsdale, AZ, October 9.

Submitted by Swimming World Intern: Pole Boy

It was a beautiful fall morning at the Cactus Pool Aquatic center in Scottsdale, Arizona. At 7:00am a small group of swimmers arrived at the outdoor pool with the pleasant morning temps in the mid 60's. Water temp was estimated to be about 83 degrees.

This was no ordinary Saturday morning workout for this small band of renegades as they prepared for the fifth annual "Hour of Power" swim. The only question in everyone's mind was, "will I be able to complete the swim this year".

At 7:16 after the group had completed a light warm-up, the "Hour of Power" began.

It might be helpful to explain what the "Hour of Power" is. It is a pretty simple single set that takes exactly one hour to complete.

60 x 25yds Fly on a 1:00 interval...and each 25 is a no breather.

After each group of 10 swims, one of the participants jumps up on the blocks to sing their college, high school, or elementary school fight song before the group begins the next swim. Since 4 or 5 of the 7 swimmers participating in this year's event were in their mid 50's remembering a school fight song is sometimes a big challenge as well. One swimmer who grew up in Illinois could only remember the fight song for the Chicago Bears so he sang that.

The singing and banter that takes place between each swim is an important part of the tradition and a good laugh enjoyed by the group can have a negative impact on a person's oxygen debt going into the next swim.

Another tradition for the Hour of Power is that most of the swimmers who participate prefer to go by their nick names such as Bo-Peep, 612, Booze Bo, Dave Bo, Rico Suave, or The King. This reporter was not able to determine the real names of any of the swimmers in this year's event.

After the completion of the Hour of Power, by all 7 swimmers who started the set, a few of the participants decided to top off the workout with a 50 underwater swim.

Then it was time for handshakes all around, a quick shave and a shower, then off on their separate ways for another beautiful Arizona weekend.

Oct 2 2010 San Diego and Miramar Air Show Visit

2010-10-04T21:45:00.007-07:00

Fran and I made a really short 36 hour visit to San Diego over the weekend ... it may not seem long but it gave a us a tastes of several things that left us wanting to go back for more!

I had met a stunt pilot in the past year and in our conversations he mentioned that if I was interested he would get me invited to a tent along the runway at the Miramar Airshow. I told him "Of course" I was interested not believing that it would actually happen. But low and behold about a month ago I got an email asking if I was still interested and next thing I knew I had tickets allowing us to sit close enough to the runway to feel the heat from the pyrotechnics they set off on the runways.

We took the first flight over on Saturday and drove right to the airfield. Fran was gracious but airshows are not her favorite thing to do (she went with me in Dayton too in 1994) and she held up well in the hot sunny conditions. We got to see the Blue Angels, a F-22 Raptor (very very cool), the Canadian Precision Flying team and many many other aircraft, helicopters and tanks. The Marines at Miramar are VERY proud of their toys (oops I mean equipment).

After the airshow we went home for a quick shower and a short nap then walked over to 5th Avenue where we had a choice of many wonderful looking restaurants. Fran took a chance and used "Hotwire" to get us a hotel room for a very reasonable rate in downtown San Diego. The Indigo Hotel is one block north of PetCo Park and is located on the 500 block of 9th Avenue. It is quite a modern hotel (2 years old) and with a good view of the baseball field and easy walking distance of everything in the Gaslamp District.

We had walked quite a bit at the airshow so we just walked over for dinner and had a nice meal at a sidewalk cafe. It was quite an amazing people watching experience sitting there eating dinner ... young and old, every color and race you could imagine, from the incredibly dressed up to the very casual, and from lots of clothing to ... not much clothing.

The next morning we took a walk along the Bay past the convention center along the walking path. After a few photos we had breakfast overlooking the harbor filled up with some pretty impressive boats ... even a few with addresses from Scottsdale and Phoenix.

50th Anniversary Celebration

2010-09-26T16:10:00.003-07:00

We had a 50th anniversary celebration of our church's founding today. Paradise Valley United Methodist Church has a beautiful campus on the East side of Camelback mountain. 50 years ago it was not much ... just a patch in the desert but today it sits on a few acres off Lincoln Boulevard and is quite picturesque. Our church has such a wonderful mission statement: "Creating Community in a Diverse World by Manifesting God's Love Through Action" ... and today was all about community. Lots of music and food all in a 50's theme. While most of our community building is outside of the church walls today was an opportunity to celebrate within our church community. In this picture Fran is wearing her poodle skirt and just about to set off dancing with her friend Karen to 50's music. Jim and I wisely moved to the side as the girls danced something that looked like the Boogie.

August 26-30 2010 Visit to WDC

2010-09-01T21:36:00.005-07:00

Fran and I went to visit Matt and Jessica in Washington DC in late August. We'll get to see Matt at Christmas time but this was our last time to see Jessica before their wedding on January 8th.

WDC is my all time favorite city and with Jessica's undergraduate degree in history and Matt's interest in history we made really good travel mates! In our short time there we were able to visit multiple historical sites and museums and restaurants. It was a very nice way for us to spend time with each other while learning quite a bit as well.

This photo of the four of us is from the back porch of George Washington's home in Mount Vernon overlooking the Potomac River. The home is in beautiful condition and is meticulously maintained. As we walked the home and the grounds you could get the sense of what life was like 200+ years ago.

The large front lawn (bowling green) is quite spectacular and Matt and Jessica are shown looking across the green towards the mansion. Below we are looking across the back lawn over the Potomac River. This must have been quite a sight and the home and location are a testimony to Washington's wealth and influence in the pre-revolutionary era.

After Mount Vernon we went to President Teddy Roosevelt's monument and then out to dinner at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Potomac adjacent to the Kennedy Center.

The restaurant setting is quite nice and people are able to bring their boats right up to the pier ... a valet will dock their boats and they can step out for a very nice dinner. Unfortunately ... we forgot our dinner cruise boat and had to use the pedestrian mode of travel :-)

On Sunday Matt and I worked out at his LA Fitness ... that is about two times the size of any gym I have every seen! It was so well done ... but hardly anyone was there ... so Matt and I played some basketball and I was going to challenge him to a game of hoops till he hit about five in a row from five feet past the outer arc ... then I decided I would be better off challenging him to swimming :-)

After the workout we went to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum Extension at Dulles airport. I love this stuff! We saw many things including the Space Shuttle, the F-35 JSF that I helped Honeywell win some sub-systems on, the Concorde, the Blackbird, the F14 and many others. I even stopped and bought a book on the F14 signed by a Top Gun instructor and had it addressed to "Fly-Bo" as a gift to one of my swim friends. After the Smithsonian we went to the American History museum where we primarily focused on the dresses worn by the presidents wives and again on George Washington. Turns out this statue of George dedicated in 1832 was a little scandalous with his bare chest and elevating him to almost deity status ... they thought a lot of him back then! His left hand holds out a sword to the citizens signifying one of the most momentous events in the history of democracy ... a leader who almost single handedly kept our 13 colonies together and fought off the British during the revolution was giving up his leadership so that a country of the people could move on through democratic principles. Pretty inspiring symbolism.

On Monday Matt had to get back to work and Jessica started up her final year of school at Georgetown Law so Fran and I were on our own until the Supershuttle was to pick us up for the trip to Baltimore airport. While we were waiting I wanted to make a visit to the George Washington monument right near Matt and Jessica's apartment. George Washington along with many of our presidents was a member of an organization called "Masons" and as its most prominent member the erected a wonderful monument to him overlooking WDC. There is a lot of mystery about the Masons and a lot of myth but in my own experience I have found them to be quite a benevolent faith based organization (think Shriners Hospital for Children) who have done much good for our country over the last 250 years. Anyway, the monument is quite a national treasure but I suspect a little unknown by most people. If you have the chance I would definitely recommend a visit and learn about how Freemasonry has contributed to our country.

August 27 2010: It is with our faces

2010-08-28T18:26:00.001-07:00

It is with our faces that we face the world … and it is by our faces that we can be recognized as individuals. Oooo … heavy stuff to read on a plane trip to WDC!

I had picked up a copy of the New Yorker to read on the plane to WDC on our visit to see Matt and his fiancée Jessica and came across the article “Face – Blind”. It was written by an aging neurologist who had come to terms with his inability to recognize faces or places. It was (and is) a life long issue that he has dealt with personally and in his practice. Over the years it has gradually become known as not a psychological issue but a neurological issue and predominantly genetic in origin although trauma can also induce change to the brain. The medical term is “prosopagnosia” for not recognizing faces. Visual agnosia is the term for not being able to recognize faces or their emotions. Topographical agnosia is the term for not being able to recognize locations or routes taken or even your house if you are walking by it. Virtually all people with prosopagnosia have damage to an area called “fusiform gyrus” in the form of lesions that are identifiable via MRI and CT scan.

People with prosopagnosia need to be resourceful and inventive in finding strategies for circumventing their deficits. Identifying particular traits such as; walking or gait, beard or moustache, glasses, voice are typical. Context is particularly important. Have you ever come across someone you knew but the context was totally outside of where you would expect to see them? Do you recognize someone because of the child they are with or the dog they walk but would not recognize them without the other associations?

Facial recognition in babies starts shortly after birth and by six months babies are able to recognize a variety of individual faces. From three to nine months babies learn to narrow their model of “faces” to those they are frequently exposed to. You may be able to relate to this … if your “model” of faces you recognize is Caucasian … Asian or Indian faces may, relatively speaking, tend to “look all the same”. The implications to me are that even though our “face cells” are present at birth they need lots of training and experience to fully develop to be able to recognize all of humanity.

This is a long way around to my own experience with growing a beard and then seven years later shaving it off and noticing the responses of those around me. I had all these observations but no framework of understanding to help me articulate what I was observing. When I first grew the beard in 2002 I was training for a marathon and it just seemed like something I wanted to try. I had a moustache for many years but a full beard was something I wanted to try. After growing the beard I noticed my sense of personal space that people felt comfortable affording me grew larger and more people would call me by name. Throughout the seven years of having the beard it seemed that people could recognize me more easily. The really interesting observations came after I shaved the beard off … some did not miss a beat in interacting with me and said “something is different” but they could not identify right away that it was the beard that was missing. What really stunned me were the people who saw me immediately after shaving and did not even know me until I spoke!

After reading Oliver Sacks article in the New Yorker I now understand some of the underlying issues behind the profound differences in facial recognition from the people who never seem to forget a face to the ones that go through life struggling to remember any face or place.

From a social justice perspective where entire classes of people are held as less than fully human because of their color or race I have come to know that fear and insecurity of the unknown is a big component of nativism, insularity and bigotry. Training our face cells of the model of diversity throughout life may be a component of humanity coming to terms with the fact that we are all one family.

Additional links: www.newyorker/com/go/outloud Oliver Sacks blog

Royal Palms Hotel, Baseball & Fran's Birthday

2010-06-13T20:32:00.004-07:00

Did you ever think that maybe buying a pair of tickets to see the Diamondback's versus St Louis Cardinals for your wife's birthday would be a good thing? I don't know what got into me ... I split seasons tickets with a few other guys and when I selected June 13th as one of the game dates I figured that she would would be good with it. Turns out ... not so much.

Fortunately, a group that I volunteer my time with had a board meeting on the Friday and Saturday prior to her birthday Sunday the 13th. AND the organization was contacted by the Royal Palms Hotel who gave a great group rate if we would hold our annual meeting at the hotel AND the hotel offered any of the board members the same rate if they decided to spend a second night. I went from being considered a little less than romantic ... to a hero in a little less than a couple days when I asked Fran to join me at the hotel and that we would spend her birthday at the hotel and eat dinner at the 4 star restaurant T Cooks on Saturday night.

It worked out so great. We were able to spend Saturday relaxing, reading and had a great dinner at T Cooks. Sunday morning we lounged by the pool and had a very nice buffet breakfast at poolside before heading out to the ball game.

P.S Diamondbacks won with a walk-off home run with two outs in the 9th inning.

McDowell Mountain Hike on May 30 2010

2010-05-30T17:43:00.008-07:00

The McDowell Mountain Regional Park is 20 miles east of our house and offers many miles of hiking, riding, and biking trails from beginner to expert. It contains several competition level off road biking courses for the advanced rider. It is a pretty cool place but we rarely go there. So today we thought it would be a good time to check out one of the hiking trails. There is a brand new welcome center inside the main gate with very helpful volunteers staffing the gift shop. At the volunteer's recommendation we hiked the easy 3.7 mile "Scenic Trail" that gave views to the 4 Peaks mountain range, the Superstition Mountain range with "Flatiron" and "Weavers Needle" as well as the McDowell Mountains. We also saw many beautiful Saguaro cactus plants that must have been up to 30 feet tall.

Picture 1: Fran with 30 foot Saguaro. There were many flowering cacti in the preserve.

Picture 2: Huge Saguaro with six symmetrical arms and retirement community of Rio Verde in the background

Picture 3: "4 Peaks" in the distance at about 50 miles. Roosevelt Dam is behind 4 Peaks and provides water to Phoenix.

Picture 4: Superstition Mountain at about 30 miles showing Weaver's Needle on the left and "Flatiron" on the right. Charlie Adams and I climbed to the top of Flatiron a couple years ago and had lunch at the top of the 5,000 foot mountain at the edge of the 1,000 foot cliff.

Picture 5" Fran with McDowell Mountains behind her

Picture 6: Fran with parking lot and trailhead behind her

Nicaragua Vacation May 9-18 2010 Itinerary

2010-05-22T12:49:00.010-07:00

We had a wonderful week long vacation in Nicaragua to visit our daughter Julie this year. She is in the Peace Corp serving in a little village called Le Paz Centro ... LPC for short. LPC is about 30 miles south of Leon the next major city. I won't put a lot of photos or details on the posting and will use it to outline our trip and put several photos that highlight some of the more meaningful parts of our visit. Fran and I will do a few more postings, in addition to his one, to show more photos and tell about a few of our more interesting happenings like when Fran was about to throw herself out of the taxi ...

May 9: Sunday

We left Phoenix on a 7:30AM American Airlines flight, had a four hour layover in Miami and arrived in Managua around 7:20PM local time. All together about 13 hours travel time. Julie picked us up at the airport and we stayed the night at the Best Western (BW) across the street.

May 10: Monday

We took a BW taxi from the BW to LPC and arrived in LPC around 10:30AM Monday morning. We had lunch at Julie's apartment and travelled by Moto-Taxi and school bus to a nearby Laguna. This is a very peaceful place that Julie loves and serves as her place to get away.
That evening we met "Oneida" Julie's teacher counterpart in the local LPC school and her duania "Marvin" who is a grandmother figure to a number of people in the village as well as being Julie's landlord.

ay 11: Tuesday

Julie and I got in a run around the local baseball field from 7-8AM
We travelled to Leon by Taxi and wandered Leon's open air market before having lunch at the "Convento" a beautiful converted seminary that now serves as a hotel and restaurant
After lunch we had desert at Julie's favorite "Skype" and internet location ... a cute little cafe called "Las Rosita"
We took a taxi back to LPC with a driver who loved practicing his english with us and then went to a German class that Julie attends taught by a young German guy serving at a women's support facility. The facility is supported by German volunteers and donations.

May 12: Wednesday

We attended Julie's school in LPC from 7-11AM seeing Julie and Oneida in action with a 7th grade class and an 8th grade class.
In the PM Fran and Julie ran errands for the party that evening
From 4-7PM we had a wonderful party with Julie's youth group and capped the evening with a Pinata

May 13: Thursday

We took a taxi from LPC to Managua and rented a car for the next five days
Took a ferry to the island of Ometepe
Checked in at Finca Venicia ... coincidently the same room Julie stayed in during a Peace Corp outing there earlier in the year

May 14: Friday

Walked to Charco Verde next to hotel Finca and spent time at their Laguna
We drove out out to a beautiful restaurant hotel called Villa Paraiso and had a great lunch overlooking a sandy beach
After lunch we went to Ajo del Agua a fresh water swimming pool fed by mountain streams. The upper pool was about 25 meters and the lower pool about 25 meters long
That evening we had dinner at the Charco Verde restaurant and walked on the beach to look at the stars

May 15: Saturday

Breakfast at Finca Venicia
Tour to Vulcan Maderas where we climbed to the "La Cascada" a 500 foot waterfall coming off the volcano and then on the return stopped at the Hotel Central an ecologically themed park "Albergue Ecologico El Porvenir" to look at petroglyphs left by ancient civilizations from over 1000 years ago
A mid-afternoon lunch - dinner at Hotel Villa Paraiso ... our tour guide Eric Henriquez (very good tour guide with excellent self-taught english) gets comped for lunch if he brings his tours there.
Evening dinner at Finca

May 16: Sunday

Left Finca Venecia amd the island of Ometepe after breakfast and drove to the beautiful beaches of San Juan del Sur on the Pacific coast
Had lunch overlooking SJDS beach and cove
Visited Carla ... one of Julie's best friends in the Peace Corp at the home of her host family
Visited Julie's first host family in St Teresa. Julie spent three months with this family from Oct-Dec 2009 during PCV training
Drove to Posada Ecologica reserve to a most beautiful Laguna and stayed at the "La Abuela"

May 17: Monday

After a great breakfast overlooking the Laguna Julie and I jumped off the dock went swimming for over an hour in the crystal clear waters
After lunch and saying our goodbye's to the very sweet woman that owned the hotel we left the Abuela and travelled to Vulcan Masaya the most active volcano in Central America
Then back to the Best Western for our final night in Nicaragua

May 18: Tuesday

Our 7:20AM flight was delayed by a couple hours so we were able to check in to the airport and then cross back to the BW for a great breakfast buffet with Julie before heading out back to Phoenix arriving home around 7:30PM

Sedona with Matt & Jessica

2010-02-06T19:31:00.005-07:00

Our son Matt introduce his girl friend "Jessica" from Washington DC to us this weekend. What a nice young woman! We spent the day together Saturday going to Sedona and had a nice lunch and got to several of the sights. The weather turned bad on us as we were leaving but the fudge we bought lasted all the way home :-)

The pictures are from the Lookout Point at the north end of Oak Creek Canyon and one from Montezuma's Castle built by natives from the year 1100.

Interfaith group to 'raise moral voice' on issue

2010-01-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

Interfaith group to 'raise moral voice' on issue

I attended an interfaith group meeting in Casa Grande today. 250 people there ... about 1/3 of them were clergy from various denominations. The UMC was very well represented with five Bishops out of the 10 present including our own Bishop Carcano. Pastor Kelly, Dan Sagramoso and I represented PVUMC. It was a meeting primarily to make a statement. People of different faith traditions coming together with a united voice saying the way we treat people is wrong. Shackling people for non-violent crimes. Shackling non-violent women who are nine months pregnant is repugnant. This case actually happened this past Oct-Dec in our Maricopa County jail. The woman who this happened to appeared before us to tell her story. The amazing thing is this treatment is "legal". We have laws that allow law enforcement to shackle non-violent pregnant woman ... walk them to a police van in shackles one day after a cesarean section barefoot and in the cold. I was not proud to be an American when I heard her story.

Blue Moon on my Birthday!

2010-01-01T22:05:00.008-07:00

A Blue Moon hung over New Years Eve. According to the paper the Blue Moon occurs once every 2.7 years and occurs on New Years Eve every 18 years or so. It is pretty cool when two consecutive nights have a full moon … so cool they call the second night the “Blue Moon”. The photo below is from Friday morning shot from our backyard out onto the ninth tee and next fairway. New Years Eve was pretty quiet for us as we had my birthday dinner at Brio Tuscan Grill and then were home and in bed before 11PM. Quite the wild time but we figured … hey … we can stay up late and have fun any night we want so lets leave the crowded parties for all those crazy people J and we’ll pick the night when we go out on the town!

After a nice French Toast breakfast Fran and I made our way down to South Mountain and hiked for a couple hours starting at the main parking lot next to the pavilions and climbing up to Dobbins Lookout. It is about a five mile round trip with about a 1000 foot climb. We stopped at Port of subs on the way to the park and had lunch at a rest area overlooking downtown Phoenix. This was a pretty good round trip hike and there were so many people on the trail as well as at Dobbins Lookout point. Dobbins attracts both hikers and people who drive to the top of the mountain for the views. I’ve attached a few photos showing different parts of the hike. Cheers. Dave.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2009

2009-11-29T10:52:00.003-07:00

Well ... with Julie in Nicaragua and Matt up in Boston visiting his girl friend's parents we were really on our own this year for our Thanksgiving holiday so we decided to make the best of it and HAD A BLAST! Our Thanksgiving weekend was such good fun first having dinner with friends on Thursday and then Fran and I “getting away from it all” on Friday and Saturday!

Thursday the 26th … Thanksgiving Day we had dinner at Simon and Wendy’s house with several of their friends and had a wonderful time dining and making new acquaintances. The broiled turkey was a great hit and showed us a new way of using our backyard cooker to serve up a tender and moist bird with little trouble.

Friday and Saturday Fran and I did a ”staycation” … that’s where you stay at a local resort and enjoy the amenities but save on travel costs J We ended up going to the local JW Marriott near our house and spent two nights at “neighbor” rates which is quite a good deal. The resort has low occupancy during the Thanksgiving Holiday so they welcome locals with great rates. Being always on the lockout for good deals … well Fran is … I’m just catching on to making sure I get the best deals ... we also had a wonderful meal at the Meritage Steakhouse inside the Marriott for ½ price entrees ( 2 for 1) because of my PBS membership. And because we were staying at the JW we got our Appetizers for free and because it was our anniversary we got our desert for free too! I felt a little guilty getting such a fabulous dinner for the price we paid. After dinner we went to the “Blue Martini” at City North and only stayed for a hour as it was getting past my bed time but we both enjoyed the time there. An excellent live band kept us entertained, and it was packed in there so we did not get a chance to sit down. If we go there again we’ll need to get there earlier to get a seat! The nice thing about a staycation is the trip home did not take that long ,,, 10 minutes J AND we did not have to board our dog we just came home to make sure he had water and food. We could not quite see our house from the pool area because of the vegetation but we could picture that it was just over the horizon ... and while looking we had good fun in the jacuzzi and swimming in the lazy river. Cheers!

2009 ASU Homecoming Parade: Oct 31

2009-11-01T19:56:00.004-07:00

Mom Ryan joined Fran and I in the ASU Homecoming Parade on Saturday October 31st. We walked the 1/2 mile down University Boulevard with the ASU Parents Association "float". We had about 80 parents, students, young kids, and professors participate as the Parents Association celebrated it's 25 anniversary as an organization supporting ASU.

Leading the parade were four antique cars with the current and prior three ASU Professors of the Year at ASU. They were followed by about 70 dancers and singers moving to the music of Otis Day and the Knights. Lots of fun! Mom, Fran and I ended up holding signs with names of three of the professors and walked next to them and their cars.

A really cute setting was after the parade when we met at the PA tent for cake and coffee and one of our scholarship winners made friends with Mom. "Dawn" is a Chinese girl who has been in the US for 10 years with her father and separated from the rest of her family in China. They are sacrificing so much for her to be able to have an education in the US and when she met Mom she developed an instant connection with a grandmother figure she so misses in China. Their photo together symbolizes so much to me ... from bridging generations ... to bridging cultures ... to bringing the unconditional love into a young persons life that a parent can share.

Hoover Dam Bypass

2009-10-23T11:20:00.005-07:00

THE WIDER VIEW: Taking shape, the new bridge at the Hoover DamCreeping closer inch by inch, 900 feet above the mighty Colorado River , the two sides of a $160 million bridge at the Hoover Dam slowly take shape. The bridge will carry a new section of US Route 93 past the bottleneck of the old road which can be seen twisting and winding around and across the dam itself. When complete, it will provide a new link between the states of Nevada and Arizona . In an incredible feat of engineering, the road will be supported on the two massive concrete arches which jut out of the rock face.The arches are made up of 53 individual sections each 24 feet long which have been cast on-site and are being lifted into place using an improvised high-wire crane strung between temporary steel pylons. The arches will eventually measure more than 1,000 feet across. At the moment, the structure looks like a traditional suspension bridge. But once the arches are complete, the suspending cables on each side will be removed. Extra vertical columns will then be installed on the arches to carry the road. The bridge has become known as the Hoover Dam bypass, although it is officially called the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, after a former governor of Nevada and an American Football player from Arizona who joined the US Army and was killed in Afghanistan.Work on the bridge started in 2005 and should finish next year. An estimated 17,000 cars and trucks will cross it every day. The dam was started in 1931 and used enough concrete to build a road from New York to San Francisco . The stretch of water it created, Lake Mead , is 110 miles long and took six years to fill. The original road was opened at the same time as the famous dam in 1936. An extra note: The top of the white band of rock in Lake Mead is the old waterline prior to the drought and development in the Las Vegas area. It is over 100 feet above the current water level.

OOW Oct 11-14 2009 & Aerosmith

2009-10-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

Oracle Open World is a pretty big deal in San Francisco every year in October. Oracle is one of the world's largest software companies and every year they host a technical event brining in 40-50 thousand IT developers from around the world to learn about the latest offerings from Oracle and to learn from each other. I went on behalf of my company and was part of a few technical sessions even though I am not really an uber technical person ... but I do depend very heavily on the success of Oracle products on my job so they invite me to share my experiences.

Every year Oracle holds a customer appreciation night where they bring in entertainment and this year was no different. Oracle rented out an outdoor venue for 30,000 people on Wednesday night (Oct 14th) on Treasure Island in the SF Bay. Very cool! They led off with Aerosmith and then followed with Roger Daltry, The Wailers, and closed with Three Dog Night. It was a very nice way to end a four day conference ... I'd been there since the conference started on sunday morning.

All for now

Sept 25 2009 District 2 Breakfast with Peggy Neely

2009-09-27T16:54:00.003-07:00

I attended my District 2 councilwoman’s monthly breakfast on Friday morning the 25^th at the JW Marriott. The JWM is a great host and provides the breakfast at cost for the event. Peggy Nelly is really good at communicating with her district with regular mailings and letters to local papers and also on the local government TV channel. Her monthly breakfast is one of the primary vehicles she uses to reach interested district members on a face to face basis. The following is from notes I took during the breakfast.

The meeting opened with two topics before moving onto her guest speaker Ken Bennett:

GAIN: Peggy encouraged citizens to get involved with “GAIN” Get Arizona Involved in Neighborhoods: http://www.phoenix.gov/police/gain1.html

GAIN is Arizona’s answer to the National Night Out held in August but because of the heat Arizona has decided to hold the event in October.

The PVUSD M&O Budget Override vote is coming up on November 3^rd. A retired PVUSD administrator spoke of the critical need for renewing the Budget Override which has been regularly renewed since 1988. It means about $35 per $100,000 of a home’s assessed valuation. The override renewal was denied last year and caused a reduction in services provided by the school system through the elimination of 219 staff positions including 190 teachers and counselors … lack of renewal this year would phase out the override completely doubling the cuts made this past year.

As pointed out in the meeting and is an approach my family has used in moving to four different cities with school age kids, including Phoenix is … the First thing we look for is support for the local school system. If it is apparent in any way that the community does not support the school district we don’t even consider buying a home there. For the benefit of the kids and for the benefit of our homeowners it is my opinion that this community should do everything in its power to fund our schools to the maximum allowed by law. Please vote for this override.

Peggy’s guest speaker was Ken Bennett the past President of the Arizona Senate and more recently the Secretary of State replacing Jan Brewer who was called on as governor when Janet Napolitano became Secretary of Homeland Security.

Ken spoke briefly about the responsibilities of the office of Secretary of State which primarily is responsible for conducting statewide elections. His primary focus of discussion was illustrating the funding sources and how the money is spent for the Arizona budget of $33B. We most often hear of the $10.5B general fund but it was very enlightening to hear the full discussion as it puts all discussion of cuts and movement of money in context of the full picture. Ken also discussed how the budget has evolved since 2006 / 2007 when he left as President of the State Senate to this year’s budget.

The General Fund:

The general fund is approximately $10.5B and is the area where AZ legislators have the most influence over spending … although as pointed out later cutting funds that are matched by federal dollars can have a weighted effect. The tax revenue supporting the general fund comes from sales taxes and income taxes. A little over 50% comes from sales taxes so when times are good in home building and car sales we are flush with tax revenue and … we tend to want to spend the surplus. When times are bad we don’t react proactively with cutbacks … and we slash budgets, borrow and sweep funds to make up the shortfall. We have no relatively stable source of tax revenue at the state level such as property tax.

The $10.5B is spent in the following major buckets: $5B for K-12 (1.1M students), $1.5B for higher education, $1B for prisons and courts, $2.5B for Health and Welfare (1.2M people, DES, CPS, Mental Health), and $0.5B to fund about 150 other state agencies.

Federal Receipts:

The federal government contributes another $10.5B to the Arizona budget to cover a couple large mandate areas; $2B for K-12 special needs, $6.5B for Federal Health and Welfare (Medicaid and Access), and $2B for Higher Education (although this number includes tuition). Some of the federal receipts come with strings attached that require matching funds … if the state does not invest then the federal government will not invest.

Local Property Taxes:

Of the local communities in Arizona they contribute an additional $4B for K-12 and $1B for community colleges.

Other AZ State Funds:

Other specific funds are also established to receive funds through tax sources such as the gas tax ($1B) for transportation, alcohol & tobacco ($1B) for healthcare, the lottery ($0.5B) and workers compensation ($0.5B). Outlays also cover education ($0.5B) state administration ($0.5B), environmental ($0.5B), and capital projects ($0.5B).

All the above adds up to about $32-33B with over two thirds of the budget allocated to K-12 education ($11B), Higher education ($5B), and healthcare ($10B).

The Budget Machinations from 2007 to 2009:

2007 Fiscal Year ended:

Ongoing Revenue: $9.6B

Ongoing Expenses: $9.6B

Rainy Day fund: $700M

Ending balance: $350M (was originally projected at $550M but reduced by $200 as tax revenue started to drop at the end of the fiscal year)

2008 Fiscal Year started with over a 10% increase in projected spending even though revenues started to drop off due to the recession:

Ongoing Revenue: $10.1B (assumed the 2007 balance would continue as annual revenue)

Ongoing Expenses: $10.6B

Rainy Day fund: $700M

Ending balance: $0M

2008 Fiscal Year ended:

Ongoing Revenue: $8.8B

Ongoing Expenses: $10.5B ($500M rainy day fund, $300M sweeps, $300M K-12 delayed payment – rollover, $100M cuts)

Rainy Day fund: $200M

Ending balance: $0M

2009 Fiscal Year started with a projected tax revenue increase and an increased spending budget. Some expenses are mandated to grow wrt to growth in student population and voter mandates but to raise budget projections in the face of a recession

Ongoing Revenue: $9.1B (reduced to 8.0, then 7.6, then to 7.3)

Ongoing Expenses: $11.1B (reduced to 10.7, then 10)

Rainy Day fund: $200M

Ending balance: $0M

2009 Fiscal Year ended with the state of Arizona having a junk bond rating and ranked 50 out of 50 in credit worthiness among all sates. The city of Phoenix continues to have the highest credit rating but is threatened this coming year as the state may need to sweep funds from the city coffers to cover its budget.

Ongoing Revenue: $7.3B

Ongoing Expenses: $10B ($100M Rainy Day fund, $325M sweeps, $525M borrowed through school district bonding, another $300M K-12 rollover – May & June payments, $100M DPS shift, $400M cuts + selling state assets and borrowing)

Rainy Day fund: $100M

Ending balance: $0

Additional Notes:

In 2006 the state had ongoing expenses of $8.3B … as long as we stay above this 2006 threshold we will be able to receive and use federal stimulus dollars but these are only good for the next two years … by that time we will have to hope that the economy bounces back and/or we have realigned our expenditures to be in alignment with our tax revenue and just as important is to realign our tax base to provide a more stable and predictable stream of funding.

Ken Bennett guestimate related to the costs of illegal immigration for the state of $1B health, $1B education, and $0.5B related to prisons.

Ken was of the opinion that increasing taxes was not the answer. Even if it was put to the voters he did not feel Arizonans would increase their own taxes. He felt we should be making business feel welcome to move to Arizona and solicit those businesses desiring to relocate.

Ken also made a point to note that prior to a ballot initiative that corrected the problem the state has had to absorb two significant unfunded mandates from the voters; 1] all day kindergarten that costs $300M out of general fund, and 2] lower thresholds for income allowing more people to use the state Healthcare Access program. The initial redirection of $75M of tobacco settlement funds has ballooned into $500M coming from the general fund as Access has expanded from 80,000 people in 2000 to 1.2M in 2009.

My Thoughts:

I found Ken Bennett to be quite engaging and offered a layman’s level explanation of how they finances of the state are constructed and how we got from a flush rainy day fund with an annual surplus to a gapping multi-billion dollar deficit within two years.
The presentation was purely from an accounting perspective and did not discuss what kind of state we want … it was about how do we balance the budget
Reconstructing what happened in establishing the initial 2008 and initial fiscal year 2009 fiscal year budgets would prove instructive. By mid-2007 when the 2008 FY budget would have been approved the stock market was at its peak so a bit of hubris could be expected. But by mid 2008 signs were everywhere that the economy was in recession especially here in AZ and yet the budgets were set higher.

Sept 13 2009 La Jolla ... The Gatorman

2009-09-17T13:43:00.005-07:00

Another great swim this year with many swimmers making the trek from Phoenix to La Jolla. Tempe Sun Devil Masters had approximately 25 swimmers plus six (Robert, Janice, Peter, Pat, Rico and Dave) swimmers from SACistan. Dinner at Hennessey's the night before the race was coordinated by our SACistan race volunteer Mike H was very nice and a great opportunity to meet Rico and Trisha's daughter Annie.

The Rough Water Swim earned it's title this year with swells running 10-12 feet but I made it to the 3 mile race turn around point in my best time to date but the swim back from the pier took about 1/3 longer than the way over. Against the swells and chop and at times it seemed like I was hardly moving. The final 200 yards I had to stop and watch how the waves were breaking onto the beach to get the timing right and to be able to not get swept into the rocks ... but land on some soft sand :-) Now I may have had a seed planted in my head from Rico the night before telling me about an 11 foot shark that lived in the cove ... but not to worry as he was a bottom feeder ... right. BUT, when I was moving to the right side of the cove to line up with the waves I looked down and I don't think I was hallucinating I saw a shark bigger than me ... and I looked twice to make sure ... about 10 feet below me. I kept telling myself "he is a bottom feeder" but I still tried to swim faster and after some brief leg cramps made it onto the beach. Happy Swimming!

Update ... After I wrote the above I stepped out to buy a pair of sneakers at New Balance ... I know TMI ... but as I'm checking out at the register a song comes over the speaker ... the one about "Lola" if you are old enough to remember the 1970 song by Ray Davies. It reminded me on Sunday that when the waves spit me out on the beach and I staggered to the finish line I was welcomed by a line of women passing out food bars and water and the first one was holding out her arms to hug me and as I got closer I realized she was bigger than me ... had chin stubble ... and gave me a hug that took the wind out of me ... sigh ... this is California.

Sept 12 2009: Parent to Parent talk

2009-09-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went to La Jolla to meet up with some old swim friends and compete ... OK ... "old" as in age and "compete" as in participate ... in the "Gatorman" a three mile open water swim. On the plane ride over I sat next to a Vietnamese woman and we started talking about kids and school ... her kids and mine are about the same age. Both my kids have graduated from ASU hers from U of A ... her family story was remarkably similar to some of the students at ASU that the ASUPA has awarded scholarships to that came from immigrant backgrounds. Both her students received scholarships at U of A ... worked hard and are succeeding in the USA because a little help was provided up front. Her story was of decades of incredible perseverance, sacrifice for her children and pride in her adopted country. Her children are on the path to be doctors graduating at the tops of their respective classes. I love stories like this :-)

Sept 7 2009: Hiking on the Mogollon Rim

2009-09-07T19:02:00.006-07:00

Fran suggested we go hiking on Labor Day ... I said "great" ... where do you want to go? She found an article in the Arizona Republic that suggested a five mile hike around a beautiful lake on the Mogollon Rim Recreation Area. After 10 years living in Arizona I am still not sure how to pronounce Mogollon but I think it sounds like "Mugyon" ... The lake we went to is part of the Apache and Sitgreaves National Foreast in east central Arizona ... spanning about 2,000,000 acres. The Mogollon Rim is part of the defining features in Arizona demarcating the lower part of the state from the high desert and mountainous regions.

It was a great drive up taking under two hours as we were able to maintain a good pace up Route 87 to Payson and then east of Payson on Route 260. about 35 miles east of Payson we turned on Forest Road 300 and then followed the paved road to Woods Canyon Lake. There we paid our $5 entry fee and followed the perimeter of the lake for about two hours. It is so pretty up there and the air was so cool and full of pine fragrance ... sure made me wish I was camping there for the week ... in an RV :-) After a nice walk ... we both wanted to walk further but hunger was taking over so we had a nice lunch of Elk burger at a Rt 260 roadside restaurant called "Bugles" recommended by the park attendant.

Something buried in the deepest recesses of my memory was trying to warn me not to go traveling on a holiday ... but I could not quite hear the warnings. 24 years ago we spent four days on Cape Cod for 4th of July weekend ... and I swore I would never ever deal with that kind of traffic again ... but I forgot. Coming from the lake on Route 260 into Payson was a very painful two hour drive ... made more painful by the behavior of some of the drivers ... most people were nice but I remembered a few and especially the tic who went out of his way to block me from merging in bumper to bumper traffic 12 miles out from Payson ... him driving a yellow Hummer did not help.

Anyway, awesome trip, except for the return part ... next time we pick our travel days better.

More on Mogollon Rim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogollon_Rim

The Apache and Sitgreaves National Forest Web Site: www.fs.fed.us/t3/asnf

Julie is Going to Nicaragua

2009-08-30T19:53:00.006-07:00

Well ... it has been a year in the making but our daughter Julie is heading off to Nicaragua for a 27 months assignment with the Peace Corp. She is so excited, nervous, and totally prepared she cannot wait for the flight that brings her to a three day staging event in WDC starting on Monday. There she will get pre-departure instructions, equipment and vaccinations prior to traveling as a group to Managua. By next Saturday she will be staying with her host family in Managua for the next three months of in country training before heading out to her two year assignment. Her primary task will be teaching school teachers how to speak english and helping them train their students. Hopefully, Fran and I will be able to get down there next year for vacation and see her either in Nicaragua or in neighboring Costa Rica.

Shown here with Julie and Fran is our dog Chester who is recovering from an operation to remove bladder stones and because he bit the veterinarian he is also under home quarantine until August 31st.

Update September 1st: Julie is leaving WDC Wednesday at 3AM and will be in Managua by noon ... and Chester is out of quarantine ... Phoenix animal control cleared him today and because he is a first time offender and the victim was the vet he will have no permanent record :-) DJR

Update September 4th: Julie is with her host family in Nicaragua but American airlines sent her luggage to a different country ... so we do not know when/if she will be reunited with her clothing and carefully purchased items that are supposed to last her the next two years. Also on a happy note ... Chester is out of quarantine and has his stitches out and is back to his old self.

Last Update September 6th: We spoke with Julie Sunday night and she has her luggage and is living with a host family of seven for the next 10 weeks during training. She is in a little village of about 6,000 people.

ASU - Be a Relational Parent

2009-08-23T16:46:00.004-07:00

Some Perspectives on the ASU Parents Association from a past president ... be a "Relational Parent"

I have had the great pleasure of being associated with ASU as a parent for the last nine years and while I have recently scaled back my involvement because my children have graduated I still remain connected to the leadership team of the ASU Parents Association, ASU Foundation Staff and ASU Staff. As a past president (‘05/’06 school year) of the ASU Parents Association it was clear to me the role that the parents association plays in making a difference for students and for their life on campus. In my mind it was always about making ASU better and filtering our ideas and actions for relevancy through the eyes of the students while focusing on three primary areas: 1] providing scholarships to the capable but financially challenged, 2] providing grants to support tutoring, mentoring of our scholarship winners, community building and safety related efforts across all our four campus’s, and 3] to honor the vision of excellence established for the gifted professors who teach our children ... I should add area #4 ... working with our student scholars on the Parent Association Float and marching at the October Homecoming parade!

There are so many things like tuition costs, same sex dorms, drinking policy, drug abuse, emergency support, the number of light poles on a street, and even really important things like the price of football tickets (I actually had quite a heated argument over that one) that come up on the radar from time to time that we periodically need to review as to whether the ASUPA should take a position or be involved and on a selective basis step in and be the voice of the parents. My own personal sense is that the ASUPA cannot be everything to everybody and must focus on our core mission ... representing all parents to make ASU the best place we can for our students within real financial and time constraints and to work with the ASU professional staff to make the maximum effect with our limited resources.

I thought I would share with ASU parents some key thoughts from a training session I attended recently that brought out to me some wonderful concepts of civic and institutional responsibility. My thinking being that some of the training and thoughts presented might apply to parents in general in your own communities and would be helpful as we think of the ASU Parents Association and the role of parents as a group supporting ASU, the largest civic institution in the state of Arizona. The training I received was focused on developing people who have a passion for making a positive difference in our communities and in our institutions. An institution (for example) can be a school, a church, or a YWCA and serves a role in the community (or nation) of bringing people together for a shared purpose. Institutions also serve the role of teaching community values and/or reinforcing family values. I could bore you with a lot of other information from the class and would be happy to blog with those interested but there are just a couple key training take aways I would like to mention that I think are directly applicable to the ASUPA membership.

Unless community members get involved in their civic institutions their voices will not be heard and more importantly the civic institution will whither.
The ASU Parents Association leaders are dedicated to making a difference at ASU and to make change happen. They engage in a relational dialogue with ASU Foundation and ASU Staff to create wonderful programs for our students. This "Relational Power" brings together the best aspects of each to make real positive change at ASU.
Relational Power characteristics; shared and interactive, public and accountable, is expansive in nature, and is only limited by the level of broad based participation.
Relational power depends on several things; a) informed consent ... members participate voluntarily based on transparency of operation, b) judgement is applied versus acting on opinions, and c) an interactive dialogue based on civility versus emotional reactions.

The ASU Parents Association represents the interests of over 54,000 undergraduate students and is part of the largest civic institution in the state of Arizona. The leadership of the Parents Association is responsible for supporting a civil relational dialogue among parents and the university. By default, having a student at ASU makes you part of the ASU Parents Association but it is my hope that every parent would take the opportunity to become involved in a direct way. The easiest way is to financially support the programs of the ASUPA but the most important way is through your time and talent. See the following web site for ideas on how to step up your involvement with the Parents Association: http://www.asuparentsassociation.com/Default.aspx?tabid=466

Be involved ... be a "Relational Parent".

http://www.asuparentsassociation.com/

Dave Ryan

ASU Parents Association Past President ('05/'06)

August 21, 2009 Bongos with 612 and Rico

2009-08-22T11:10:00.005-07:00

Well I knew I had no rhythm before Friday night but it was on full display as a stood with several others keeping the 4 part beat on the top of the horizontal drum with my left hand and hitting the end of the drum with a stick with my right hand on alternate beats. Man did I feel spastic! Traditional music ... it is not ... but I was finally able to go to the drumming class with my good friends from masters swimming; 612 and Rico Suave. Hand drumming for beginners is taught on Friday evenings at the AZ Yoga studio at the Scottsdale Airpark and is sponsored by AZ Rhythm Connection. 612 and Rico have been attending the beginners class occasionally and seemed to know what they were doing so I just followed their lead and I did not feel too awkward except when I was trying to do two things at once and my hands did not cooperate.

The focus of the class is the West African Diembe a skin covered hand drum shaped like a large goblet and played with the bare hands. Everyone sits in a semi-circle with a Diembe around the instructor "Frank" and he leads the group in simple exercises progressing in complexity to the limits of the class attendees. It was pretty cool watching and listening as the whole class got engaged and the tempo picked up.

Even though I felt awkward it was actually a very fun thing to do and I would like to go back for more. The class was very respectful of my awkwardness ... except for Rico ... he was laughing so hard he started crying and I thought he was going to fall off his chair! And now that I think of it 612's looks of concern were not exactly inspiring either! But Rico's and 612's "encouragement" aside there were moments where the beat of the drums from the class and my contributions sounded pretty good so I know I can do better.

After drumming we went to Brennan's at Scottsdale and Thunderbird for a sandwich and a couple beers. Really great fun and great company. Thanks 612 and Rico. Bo

http://www.azrhythmconnection.com/About_azrc.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djembe

August 14 - 17 2009 Los Angeles Vacation and Going Away Celebration for Julie

2009-08-17T21:11:00.007-07:00

Julie heads off to Nicaragua August 31st and Fran and I wanted to spend a long weekend with her next to the ocean ... her favorite thing to do. We were originally going to race in the La Jolla Gatorman together but since her Peace Corp assignment came through quicker than we anticipated we found a 3 mile race around Naples Island in Long Beach to go to instead. We made it a four day weekend and managed to bring along one of her swim buddies from Phoenix (Jen) and met another two of her swim friends (Alisha and Megan) that now live in LA. What a trip for me being around five women that are all so smart and much quicker witted than I am ... I learned quickly to do what I do best ... just drive the car and do what I am told :-)

We went to the 3rd Street Prominade on Friday night and I became a part of a "street art" demonstration. Basically, a bunch of guys that do all sorts of acrobatic moves in the street and enlist audience participation. Their leader pulled me out of the crowd because I looked like "Chuck Norris" ... sure ... I think they pulled me and a bunch of others into the center was so they could tease us into donating more money for them.

During the day on Saturday the girls (Julie, Jen, Alisha and Megan) went swimming in the ocean together and they were in 2nd heaven! Really quite a memory for all them as it brought back so many fond stories of how they swam together for so many years and made numerous trips to La Jolla together to swim in the ocean.

Saturday evening was very cool as all six of us went to the Hollywood Bowl and saw the LA Philharmonic perform along with some fireworks. Turns out it was 16 years almost to the day that Fran and I first came to the Hollywood Bowl. We ate dinner in one of the bowl picnic areas and then attended a two hour performance. From a music perspective the pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa was UNBELIEVABLE ... here is a link to her website: http://ursuleasa.com/. An amazing 30 minute performance of non-stop Tchaikovsky music called "Piano Concerto Number 1" ... it really was impressive to listen and watch Mihaela perform. Since Fran and I were last there in 1993 the Hollywood Bowl has installed large jumbotrons allowing close ups of her playing the piano. http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/music/piece_detail.cfm?id=54. After a mid-performance break the guest conductor Christian Knapp led a storied rendition of a relatively unknown and unpublished Romeo & Juliet operatic duet and then ... there were fireworks to the 1812 Overture!!

Sunday was the "big swim" day. It was really quite a small race involving maybe 70 people in the 1 mile race (Jen won 1st in her age group) and about 80 people in the 3 mile (Julie got 3rd in her age group). Julie and I swam the 3 mile (actually about 2.75) and it was quite nice ... the swim is around the Naples Island in the center of the harbor and the water temperature was about 65 degrees. Me ... I thought I swam really well but came in 7th in my age group ... but I made it!

Saturday morning Fran and I walked on the beach and then had breakfast at the "Urth" Cafe ... I liked it so much I went back Monday morning by myself to have another bowl of oatmeal and really good coffee. :-)

August 8 John Shadegg Health Care Town Hall

2009-08-08T17:35:00.009-07:00

On Saturday I attended a town hall meeting in Arcadia. Pretty interesting both from a topic perspective as well as a people watching perspective. Even though I was there 45 minutes before show time the seating capacity of 200 was 80% full and by the time of the start of the event there were 500 people flowing out the doors.

John Shadegg Health Care Town Hall

Arcadia Neighborhood Learning Center

Summary: John Shadegg hosted about 500 people in the Arcadia Learning Center to discuss the current health care plan “HR 3200”, his perspective and his responses to as many questions from the public as possible.

The meeting started at 11AM and at about 12:20 the Phoenix police and fire marshal asked for volunteers to leave as the room was only designed to hold 200. I took that as an opportunity to depart.

Overall I found the congressman to be quite engaging and totally in command of the subject throughout his statements and responses to questions. After listening to him respond and knowing his background and sponsorship of other health care initiatives I cannot imagine that there are too many people in the congress that could do such a masterful job. That being said … he is totally against the democratic plan and his (and republican) alternative theme of personal freedom and “choice” as the answer rang a little hollow considering the financial debacle we are currently experiencing. The less than stellar aptitude that so many Americans displayed in choosing mortgage products and we expect putting health care choices in the hands of the 20% of our US population that are functionally illiterate is going to produce better results … gives me reason to pause that the republicans have the answer.

Throughout the session John reminded the crowd of the need to be civil and that all view points should be respected. He got to lead by example and display a civil attitude himself as several people went way off topic pontificating and making pointed observations. He was so good at taking each of those moments and injecting humor and turning the topic around to his advantage to make a point.

Congressman Shadegg’s web site: http://johnshadegg.house.gov/

HR3200: http://thomas.loc.gov/

A recent NY Times Article highlighting the reality many young americans are facing: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/opinion/11herbert.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

Some General Comments made by Shadegg: HR3200 is a big bill … in excess of 1000 pages likely growing to 1500 pages after committee markups and reconciliation of committee versions of the bill. There are actually at the present time multiple versions of this bill being marked up by various committees that need to be consolidated in the “Rules” Committee. HR3200 sets out to ensure a minimum level of coverage for all Americans through employer and individual mandates. Within five years all public or private healthcare offerings must meet government established minimums … the republican issue with the bill is that it presumes that putting government in the middle of the equation to guide the offerings and the choices people make will provide overall lower costs for America. The republicans are offering four different bills of their own that focus on freedom and choice with the presumption that putting choice in the hands of everyone … from a congressman to a homeless person will control demand and costs. The republican usage of the word “Choice” being a euphemism for moving away from the government or employers limiting peoples choices for health care coverage and the individual taking on the risks inherent with selecting the appropriate coverage and deductible for their needs. This would also include programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Government Employee Healthcare, and S-Chip.

There are two basic areas that democrats and republicans agree that health care must be reformed before either of their approaches can succeed:

v Pre-existing conditions

Ø No one should have to go bankrupt due to pre-existing conditions

Ø Three years ago Shadegg sponsored a bill written into law authorizing states to set up high risk insurance pools to cover pre-existing conditions. Only 22 states have adopted it … not Arizona

Ø One man came forward to provide an example … he has set up his own business and is successfully managing it but because of a PEC he cannot get healthcare coverage for the condition. So far it has cost him $40K out of pocket to treat the condition and it threatens to bankrupt him. The democratic plan offers him a solution … the republican plan does not

Ø John agreed that this is unacceptable and is the type of example that illustrates the system has some broken areas that must be fixed.

v Universality

Ø Everyone should be eligible to buy a minimum plan through employer, individual, and if not affordable then tax credits provided

Ø Individuals currently cannot purchase insurance across state lines … this must change

Ø If you are not satisfied with your employer health care plan you currently cannot use those tax preferentially treated dollars to procure another plan. This must change allowing individuals to freely move their coverage to the plan that best suits them

Ø We choose our banks, auto insurance, and homeowners insurance from national level companies … and we fire them when we are not satisfied … why not health insurance?

Beyond these two basic areas it boils down (to me) whether we trust government to run our health care choices or let the free market determine our choices.

I won’t go into the details of the individual questions … there were about 15+ questions asked by the time I left and many of the answers were covered by my comments above regarding PEC and Universality.

A few others comments by Shadegg in response to questions:

v Earmarks are where there is corruption. Jeff Flake’s pursuit of this subject has uncovered numerous instances of improper behavior by elected officials that corrode public confidence. Republicans need to stand for no earmarks.

v In response to a question whether the government has the authority given under the constitution to nationalize healthcare or create socialized medicine … John reminded everyone that we already have taken big steps in that direction with Medicaid and Medicare and prior healthcare mandates that govern how healthcare is provided nationally. It may not be constitutional but we have been doing it for years.

I ended up sitting in a row of wingnuts so I was getting an earful from two consecutive people about every right wing conspiracy imaginable … and there were many other people carrying signs and images defacing Barrack Obama … but those intellectually bereft images and conspiracy theorists aside I found the event to be very helpful in educating me. I was impressed with John Shadegg and his mastery of the topic, his ability to control a large somewhat unruly group, and his recognition that we have a huge issue confronting America that we must address together and not let the entrenched interests (insurance and pharmaceuticals) dictate the solution. Citizens must step forward and exercise their opinions and be educated on the subject.

Given the electoral makeup it was Shadegg’s position that the republicans cannot stop HR3200 from being passed unless citizens are able to sway their democratic elected officials to hold off on voting for HR3200.

Below are the main topics addressed by HR3200:

(1) IN GENERAL- The purpose of this division is to provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending.

(2) BUILDING ON CURRENT SYSTEM- This division achieves this purpose by building on what works in today's health care system, while repairing the aspects that are broken.

(3) INSURANCE REFORMS- This division--

(A) enacts strong insurance market reforms;

(B) creates a new Health Insurance Exchange, with a public health insurance option alongside private plans;

(D) initiates shared responsibility among workers, employers, and the government;

so that all Americans have coverage of essential health benefits.

(4) HEALTH DELIVERY REFORM- This division institutes health delivery system reforms both to increase quality and to reduce growth in health spending so that health care becomes more affordable for businesses, families, and government.

July 25 & 26 2009: Keith Urban, Amy Buxton AND the D'Backs WIN!

2009-07-26T17:28:00.005-07:00

Wow! What great weekend ... Fran and I went to the Keith Urban concert in Glendale Saturday night and had a great time. We don't get out to many concerts and this one was so cool because Keith is young and hip and often writes his own materials as well as being a great guitarist and singer. Not that Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, The Rolling Stones and Tom Jones are slackers ... not by any means ... did I say "THE" Rolling Stones ... and I really enjoy watching them .. but it was nice seeing an entertainer younger than us :-) The audience had quite a range of ages so I must say and I think we were "up there" relative to the average age ... there were many many 20 & 30 something people there having a blast. In all, even though it was billed as a country music concert it sure came across as a rock concert with pounding heavy bass, five guitars and a drummer. Keith Urban and his four other guitarists all could sing really well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Urban

A nice surprise was Amy Buxton replacing Sugarland as the opening act. Amy sang about eight songs and won the hearts of the audience with her vocals and sincerity in expressing how happy she was to have the chance at singing at the Glendale Arena and being the opening act for Keith Urban.

To top the weekend off we saw the Diamondbacks whup the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-0. Quite a performance by the D'Backs starting pitcher Max Scherzer for the first seven innings and the closer Blaine Boyer pitching shutout relief. Seven out of nine runs were scored with two outs.

The Old Violin

2009-07-23T20:38:00.004-07:00

I'm posting an email trail that started over three years ago from my friend Steve ... aka 612. It's not a coded name ... its just that he arrives at swim practice late every day typically around 6:12AM ... I should restate that in a Bohemian way ... he arrives at a time that fits his natural biorhythm :-) hence ... the 612 moniker.

I had forgotten about this story of the old violin but it speaks to other things I've written in my blog about 612 and my swim team. For example; swim teams that have lasted 20+ years don't happen just because there is a pool ... there is something more than that bringing people together, day in, and day out, year after year. We share so many hours every morning before work swimming for a masters team ... this is more than a shared experience ... its about a swimming and social community that stands together and opens its doors to all who choose to enter.

From: Steve
Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2009 2:56 PM
To: Dave
Subject: The Old Violin

Bo
I was going thru my email archive and came across this

Long Live the King!
612

From: Steve
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 12:47 PM
To: Dave
Subject: The Old Violin

DaveBo!!!
fantastic!!!!!
thank you for sending this - i love the story of the old violin (especially after I so rudely walked away in the locker room after you told me you wanted to tell me this story - so thanks for your persistence in getting this idea to me) I will definitely pass this on to my daughter who has recently become a "Devil's Advocate" as I once was long ago. This is the honorary / service group that gives tours of ASU. and.........yes - we must keep SACistan in good tune and repair!!!!
it is good that we have developed this governmental system with so many ministers helping in the care and tuning!

Long Live the KIng!
6:12

From: Dave
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 12:33 PM
To: "Bo"
Subject: The Old Violin

Hi Bo.

I was thinking on Friday about what you said about why we stick together; camaraderie, humor, like interests . turns out Friday evening I attended the 50th anniversary of the ASU Memorial Union. Interestingly, it is only one of 50 University student unions in the world dedicated to remembering the men and women in the armed services who gave their lives in service of their country.

The keynote speaker left us with a story about "the old violin" . about an estate auction being conducted and item after item was being sold for nominal value as all items were in disrepair, dusty, and uninteresting. One item, an old, dusty, out of tune violin came up for auction . after plucking a few of the strings the auctioneer started the bidding for the item "do I hear $1 for this item? .. Do I here $5 ? Yes? Going . go ." and then an old man in the back of the room stood and walked to the front before the item could be sold. He spent a few moments dusting off the item, tuning the strings, and then played a sweet musical arrangement to the astonishment of all those in attendance. When he finished, the old man handed the violin back to the auctioneer and walked back to his seat. Not quite knowing how to proceed the auctioneer returned to closing the sale but quickly a bid for $1,000 was offered, then $3,000 and then finally sold for $5,000.

The message being that a violin, a building (in the case of the MU), a pool, or even a country like SACistan has the greatest perceived value when it is well cared for by experts and fulfills the needs of those to who it is offered for service. Worth more pondering over a bagel, but I'm thinkin that SACistan fulfills a deeper need in us than we understand yet.

Long live the KING!

July 3, 2009: Day Trip To Kitt Peak

2009-07-04T22:24:00.006-07:00

Kitt Peak and Dinner at the Feast (Tucson)

Fran was understanding enough of my interest in astronomy … and I think a little curious herself to agree to drive to Kitt Peak today. Kitt Peak is a mountain southwest of Tucson that was selected 50 years ago out of 1,000 potential sites to be the location where the National Science Foundation would put a national observatory. Formally known as the “Kitt Peak National Observatory” (KPNO), part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). NAOA has three facilities … KPNO plus a facility in Hawaii and one in Chile. These three facilities are run by a consortia of universities including the University of Arizona. The KPNO web site: http://www.noao.edu/kpno/

We made a day trip out of it leaving Phoenix at 9AM and getting to KPNO a little after 1PM with a short stop for lunch and a long mountain climb by car to 6400 feet elevation. We arrived shortly before their 1:30PM tour of the 4 meter Mayall telescope that was one of the original scopes used back in 1970. Today’s telescopes use something called adaptive optics to help manage the shape of the mirror as temperatures change and the angle of inclination changes. Adaptive optics use little computer controlled actuators to put pressure on the backs of the mirror to change its shape ever so slightly and allowing it to retain its perfect reflecting shape. Back when the Mayall mirror was built adaptive optics did not exist so they needed to build the mirror as big and and as rigid as the state of the art allowed. So, the mirror … it is 158 inches across and weighs about 12 tons! But now picture that the mirror has to tilt and rotate to look at different parts of the sky and it has to be accurate to a millionth of an inch! So they had to design a 300 ton monster of a table to sit the mirror on and this is the way they have operated it for 40 years. Then they had to drag all that equipment to the top of Kitt Peak ... unbelievable feat!

Another little "factoid" ... KPNO has a million gallon water tank on top of the mountain ... that explains why they have flush toilets! The neat thing about it is behind the visitor parking lot they have a BIG concrete cone that collects rainwater that runs to a collector and is then filtered and treated for storage and use on the mountain. It also comes in really handy in case there is a fire.

So after a two hour tour of the Mayall telescope and a walk around part of the mountain top we headed into Tucson for dinner. I had looked up on “TripAdvisor.com” for a suggested restaurant and the top rated restaurant was a place called “Feast” on Speedway Boulevard. We made it there and had a very nice meal and spent time with Megan … I think … the owner or manager who also waited on our table. Tucson is more a laid back atmosphere than Phoenix and this was certainly the case at the Feast. It was very tastefully decorated and equipped and I could tell from the clientele that came in while we were sitting and how they interacted with the staff that it had a very high percentage of regular customers.

June 26, 2009: Westin, Silverthorne Mall and Vail Gondola

2009-07-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

We took it pretty slow today. Fran was again up all night coughing but by 9AM she seemed well enough to go for a walk along Gore Creek and then after we changed we went for lunch at the brand new Westin Resort located next to and overlooking Gore Creek and the Beaver Creek Resort. The Westin was quite impressive and we had an OK meal and the view while eating was awesome! After lunch it started pouring as we made our way to the Silverthorne Outlet Mall we had seen on the way in from Denver. I am a little surprised to hear me say it but I actually enjoyed the mall … it has about 80 outlet stores on three campuses. OK … the river running through it and the towering snow covered mountains directly behind it were pretty impressive and gave a pretty positive impression. But the stores we went to were pretty decent and while we were not able to go to very many of those stores Fran was pretty impressed and claimed it a “successful” shopping experience.

After shopping we stopped at our favorite place ... the Vail Lionshead Village for a quick bite to eat. We went to a restaurant next to the Gondola and were pleasantly surprised to see the Gondola running … and because it was after 4PM it was FREE ☺! So we quickly ditched our dinner plans and rode to the top of Vail mountain and had dinner at 11,000 feet in the mountain top lodge called “Bistro 14” in honor of the many 14,000+ foot mountains in the area. It was a great way to wrap up the week!

June 25, 2009: Aspen and Independence Pass

2009-07-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

We took a 200 mile round trip south of Interstate 70 today. Going south through Leadville on state route 24 and had lunch at the “Tennessee Pass” restaurant (really good food ☺). Leadville is quite a nice little town situated at 10,000 foot elevation. We passed so many beautiful spots along the way to Independence Pass … one was called Twin Lakes. A little five building village overlooking a lake under some towering 14,000 foot peaks. There were a few cabins for rent here … maybe for the future?

Another hour of climbing a winding state route 82 along a rushing stream brought us to Independence Pass … a high mountain pass connecting Leadville and Aspen. The highest point is at 12,000 feet and is above the tree line and even in late June has plenty of snow. Mountains rose all around us up to and past 14,000 feet … it turns out Colorado has 52 mountains over 14,000 feet. After cresting the mountain pass we began a 10 mile journey down the other side of the mountain into Aspen. This pass is typically closed from the first snow fall through late May. Fran and I were amazed at the number of cyclists who made the trek up the mountain. Not only are they climbing thousands of feet in elevation the air is so thin their lungs must have been burning terribly. I was relieved to find they had support vehicles waiting for them at the top of the mountain.

Aspen was so picturesque just like I imagined but … it was raining and everything we wanted to see was outside. We tried to make the best of it but we were getting tired and ended up calling it a day after about 45 minutes and then started the long drive up route 82 to Glenwood Springs and then Interstate 70 back to Avon. Before we arrived in Avon we decided to have dinner in Edwards at a place called “E-Town” … a part of a planned live / work / play community. Edwards reminded me of a rural community suddenly facing an onslaught of development spreading out from the Vail ski area and encompassing the entire Vail valley.

June 24, 2009: Colorado Vacation Vail Pass Bike Ride

2009-07-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday the 24th we got daring and signed up for a 25 mile bike ride starting in Vail Pass. This was stunning beautiful and quite a nice ride for Fran and I especially for Fran as she had not ridden a bike in over ten years and had never ridden as fast or on such steep hills as we did today. A shuttle bus picked us up outside the Sheraton and brought us out (with 12 other people) 25 miles east to “Vail Pass”. Vail Pass is at 10,660 foot elevation and is at the snow line for June. After getting used to our bikes at the start of the bike path Fran and I followed the trail for the next 12 miles down winding paved trails occasionally turning into country roads that we shared with a few cars. The only real danger was letting the speed get away from you and then having to navigate one of the many turns through the forested areas. Easily we could have 40 miles per hour on these downward slopes but we kept the speed to less than 25 at the maximum and more like under 20 mph for most of the faster runs.

At around mile 12 we entered the east end of Vail and came across the Gerald Ford Amphitheater and the Betty Ford Garden. The Ford’s came to Vail quite a bit and when he became president the entire entourage would come to Vail while he vacationed. This attention by the national media is what put Vail on the international spotlight and development of the area subsequently took off.

From mile 12 through 17 we navigated the Vail ski area winding through some beautiful neighborhoods and the Vail villages. At this point we could have met the shuttle bus but we decided to keep going and followed the bike paths and marked roads back into Avon and returned our bikes. In all it was a 25 mile trip and close to a 3,000 foot drop in elevation. This mostly downhill (with a few ups) is definitely an enjoyable way to go biking ☺

In the evening we went out to dinner at a restaurant in Vail Lionshead Village called the “Montauk Seafood Grill”. June is a slow month for the Vail Valley and the specials were fantastic at many restaurants. Montauk’s offered a special for June for all their entrees to be $19. Fran and I both had great meals for a very modest price.

June 23, 2009: Colorado Vacation Hiking in Vail and Gore Creek

2009-07-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday the 23rd we went to the Vail ski area again. Vail ski area actually has five little “villages” that serve the ski slopes; Golden Peak, Vail Village, Lionshead, Cascade Village, and West Vail. It is only 10 miles and this time we went to the Lionshead village hoping to ride the gondola to the top. It turns out the Gondola was only running Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week. It brings sightseers and bike enthusiasts to the top of the mountain. The sightseers get a return ride but the bikers actually ride down any number of groomed trails. The level of difficulty for riding bikes down hill cannot be underestimated … from relatively easy “Green” slopes to the “Double Black” equivalents of the down hill ski world. The hardest hills require bikers to wear what can only be called body armor from head to foot in case of a spill. The bikers are a regular sight in Vail Village during the summer.

Fran and I wandered the villages of both Lionshead Village … and then after a short walk up the slopes and across a trail we proceeded down into Vail Village for lunch and a shuttle bus ride back to Lionshead

After returning to Avon we went for a walk along Gore Creek and saw the new Westin resort that has just been completed. It is spectacular and sits right over Gore Creek and looks up to the Beaver Creek resort and ski slopes. It even has its own gondola ride to the base of the ski resort … too much! Leave your room and step right into the skiing resort.

Fran and I sat in the Sheraton hot tub that evening before dinner and met a couple from Tucson who had just bought their first time share unit at the Westin that day. They were so excited to have bought but their maintenance fees are about $2100 per year and that would likely translate to a $30-40K purchase price. Too rich for us but we have run into multiple people who have 3, 4, 5 and even seven condo weeks that they absolutely love.

June 22 2009: Colorado Vacation w/Camelot Balloons and Grouse Mountain

2009-07-03T13:00:00.003-07:00

We started Monday morning at 4AM. I awoke not knowing if Fran would be able to go through with our plans for a hot air balloon ride to celebrate her 50th birthday due to her bad cold. Her body was racked with coughing all night long and as a result neither of us were able to sleep more than a couple hours.

I had chosen Camelot Balloon rides for this morning’s adventure and they did not disappoint. The launch site for Camelot sits just north of the Eagle County Regional Airport or (EGE). EGE was closed to commercial traffic this summer but it remains a busy general aviation airport while they are expanding their runway capability. When reopened this fall it will be able to support large commercial flights from anywhere in the US. This is a great airport to get to Vail, Aspen and Beaver Creek ski resorts.

Camelot Balloons is owned and operated by “Merlin”. His flight crew chief “Sir Shrek the Red Neck” and three young men that served as his flight crew were all wonderful good old boys in the nicest sense. It was obvious that Merlin and Red Neck had worked together for many years and their stories, good humor and expert ability managing the balloon launch and recovery made our morning quite enjoyable. We were joined in our first time balloon ride by two other couples; two attorneys from Chicago and another from Charlotte, NC.

The flight consisted of rising to 1,800 feet above the launch site (which sits at 6,540 foot altitude) and going back and forth across a valley boxed in by mountains. Merlin would take advantage of winds that were different at every altitude … so to go west he would rise … to go east he would drop … to go north he would hug the tree tops. The time in the air was so pleasant … it was quiet … almost breezeless (as we were part of the air current) and very enjoyable. After our soft landing and return to base we were treated to champagne and a light lunch and stories. I highly recommend Camelot Balloons … it is not fancy but it is fun, safe and memorable! Merlin’s next adventure is to launch a balloon service in the Cayman Islands this fall where he will launch on one end of the island chain and land on a boat. One of his prior balloon clients is the general manager of the Ritz-Carlton in the Cayman Islands and paid for Merlin to bring his balloon down and test out the whole process including landing in a boat.

After a light lunch … and a manicure & pedicure we rested and took a short walk along the Gore Creek bike trail. The trail parallels the creek for many miles and provides a nice way to walk and enjoy the sight of a creek swelled by mountain runoff. Monday evening we went for dinner to Grouse Mountain Grill in Beaver Creek. GMG is breathtaking to arrive at and the food and service matched the first impressions. Fran and I were the first couple of the year to eat outside on the patio overlooking the mountains and the ski resort. BC is a beautiful ski resort community next to Avon nestled into a set of spectacular mountains. Our waiter was a free spirit and at 60 years old someone who had experienced Woodstock, and numerous late 60’s and early 70’s events that most of us only read about. He did have a story about traveling through Schenectady in 1973 at 2AM and pulling over for gas and looking into the car next to him where there was a lion and a poodle in the car. Turns out the driver was only one of a couple licensed owners of a lion in the country and he was taking the lion out for a drive (one of the lions favorite activities) … but he could only take him out in the middle of the night as his day time drives caused accidents from drivers to shocked to drive straight.

At the end of the day we were able to return to the Sheraton (just five miles from GMG) and admire our certificates of accomplishment signifying we had participated in man’s first aeronautical experience by ascending into the heavens on the hot air balloon “Caerleon” and piloted by the wizard of Camelot “Merlin”.

2008 Holiday Times in Phoenix

2009-01-03T07:48:00.010-07:00

Happy holidays from Phoenix! Maryetta flew in from Florida ... Mike, Agatha, and Annabelle drove in from Texas .. Matt from WDC and Julie from Tempe to join Fran and I for good times in Phoenix.

Fortunately, the weather cooperated and while we had a few rainy days the temperatures were in the 60's most every day and we were able to get out and about town.

Annabelle was so much fun! In the photo below she is racing to the camera and we are hoping the shutter clicks before she gets there. AND ... Dec 31st was my birthday so Maryetta took us all out to dinner at the local Kona Grill where Julie was serving. We got there early so it was not crowded and then we went home for my favorite cake the "Mother Lode" from Claim Jumper!

Annabelle got to ride on two trains ... the 1st, a kid size version at the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park at the corner of Indian Bend and Scottsdale Road, and the 2nd, the adult version our new Phoenix valley light rail.

Maryetta arrived before everyone else and she was able to join Fran and I at a six course dinner at George & Sons asian restaurant in Scottsdale with my swim team. Lots of fun where we had close to 30 people enjoying a number of different dishes served up by George and his staff. Simon, our team sommelier provided a wonderful selection of south African wines to complement every course.

August 1-3: Granite Dells and the Oak Creek Canyon West Fork

2008-08-03T19:26:00.006-07:00

Yea verily ... a quarter pound of fresh rocky road fudge is a great way to top off two days of hiking and some nice dinners with my wife Fran.

Fran and I made our way up to Prescott, AZ on Friday August 1st. We left Phoenix 10AM and by mid-day had lunch just east of Prescott. Just north of Prescott we found the entrance to Peavine Trail and then hiked near Watson Lake in the middle of the Granite Dells. Its a straight shot hike up the Peavine Trail from the trail head and we saw some nice views of Watson Lake and the dells. The trail is converted from an old rail road bed and is wonderfully groomed, flat and soft to walk on. We did a little over a four mile round trip in two hours and stopped for scenery breaks often

The evening of the first we had a great dinner at a little restaurant in west Sedona called "Heartline Cafe" it was recommended by a friend of Fran who held her wedding up their recently. We had a wonderful meal there with great service. Saturday morning we had breakfast at our motel and travelled up route 89A to try to get into Slide Rock ... a real favorite of families but as we found out at the Chamber of Commerce that parking lot fills up at 10AM during the summer and stays full all day long. Lines of cars back up onto the highway waiting for someone to leave. We did not want to get that line so we went further to the north in Oak Creek Canyon to a park called "Call of the Canyon ... West Fork". Prior to arriving we stopped at the Indian Gardens Deli. I recommend this place highly. Good food and drink and a beautiful garden in the back to sit in the shade and eat and drink. The West Fork turned out to be a spectacular hiking grounds and led us for several miles (I was told it goes for 10+ miles) back into the national forest. Along the way we crossed the stream many times with what seemed at times to be towering 1,000+ foot cliffs on either side of us. This northern part of the Sedona region we were told is nicer to hike during the summer months as it goes along stream beds and has tall lush vegetation and is surrounded by high cliff walls. During non-summer months the rest of the Sedona area trails are much more bearable.

Along the trail we talked briefly with many hikers but the cutest ones were the kids we found at a water hole where they were trying to catch tad poles. This was one of the most simple pleasures I remember as a kid when my parents used to take us kids camping. Watching these kids for about 20 minutes ... it seemed they could just go on for hours chasing the tad poles, catching them and then letting them go. It was so peaceful back there, no sounds except the high altitude wind swirling from the cliffs so far over our heads and the sound of the water rushing over rocks and the sounds of the kids happy and care free. I wish every kid had a chance to experience what they were doing at that moment.

In the evening Fran and I had dinner in "uptown" Sedona at the Cowboy Club. After dinner we walked the streets a little before I managed to somehow end up in front of the fudge shop :-)

May 18 2008: Matt Graduates from George Washington University with MBA

2008-05-30T17:59:00.004-07:00

After two short years Matt is graduating from George Washington University! It seems like such a short time ago that Matt was transferring to WDC and attending GWU. What a change of events going from a management training program at his prior employer and fully paid at GWU to Matt finding his new employer and him having to pay the bill himself. It all makes sense now but at the time it seemed like Matt was taking a big risk ... he is making a great salary, got a partial GWU scholarship, and his new company kicked in some reimbursement funds. He has to take a couple more classes that complete in June but then he is complete. The WDC experience has been transformational for him. He is in one of the most amazing cities in the world and gets first hand exposure to some of the world's leading thinkers in politics and economics.

Fran, Julie and I went Washington DC on Thursday May 15th and stayed through Monday May 19th at Matt's apartment. He has a beautiful apartment in Arlington, VA and is just a short train ride from the capitol.

Matt's girlfriend Bri is staying with Matt and is pursuing her career in theater production after graduating from Webster University in St Louis, MO. They were wonderful hosts for our visit and took us to several places across the greater DC area.

Friday night was Matt's graduation walk at his school of business

MS150 Roundup Ride in Florence Arizona

2008-04-05T13:39:00.006-07:00

A big thank you to the kind people who supported me and my fellow riders on the "Prime Time Posse" team that rode in the 150 mile bike ride to benefit Multiple Sclerosis on March 29th and 30th in Florence, AZ! Our collective team of 60 contributors raised over $3,000!!!

Your generosity was overwhelming and much appreciated by me, my riding partners and the people on whose behalf we rode. I'll share a little about the ride, some photos and some special conversations that I had during the weekend to provide a little insight to the special nature of this event.

In prior years we have ridden with more people but due the marriage of two of our riders on March 30th and another of our riders attending the wedding, our riding team was cut down to just three people; Jennifer & Alan MacColl and me. We lacked in numbers but met many wonderful people on the ride from other teams as well as MS staff. This year's format was different than the last several that left from Lake Pleasant on Saturday and arrived at Parker Dam on Sunday at the California border. We arrived in Florence, AZ on Friday evening March 28th and stayed in a camper at a very nice little park on the North side of town. Saturday we started riding at about 7AM and had options of riding 50, 75 or 100+ miles. Sunday a similar format with options of 25 and 50 miles. I ended up riding all 150+ miles and except for chapped lips and a tender bum it was a long ride ... but if you like long bike rides at a fast clip with beautiful desert scenery and not many cars it was a great ride.

On Saturday after I was done riding I received a nice treat (after I showered :-); a massage, a couple glasses of wine and some wonderful conversation with MS volunteers. I was explaining to them how I have come to know several families afflicted by MS and their stories are very moving and inspirational and that was why I was doing this ... because of them. It did not occur to me as I was talking to the four volunteers that they were all afflicted with MS or their children were afflicted with MS ... only when I paused did they offer some insight to their own situations ... can't pick up their children because they may drop them, all dishes in the house are now plastic, periodic blindness, no clothes with buttons ... only snaps and zippers, can't feel heat or cold on extremities, and "when I fall down ... I can't get up". Their comments were in the same conversational tone as if I were describing an irritating little bug bite. They were so young and all had families.

Saturday evening is the big social get together for all riders. A big dinner provided by Fazolies is set up and live music entertainment is provided ... not that it is a late night ... we start dinner about 5PM, there are remarks by the MS leadership, a big thank you to the riders and the donors and by 8 or 9PM most people are looking for the pillow to fall asleep! Sunday is a "short" day of 3-4 hours riding and then a barbeque lunch, saying goodbye to friends and heading home. It really is a great time to completely get away from everything and to just focus on the event at hand and to be with friends.

So again, thank you! It was a great time and I would like to encourage all of you if you are interested in a riding next year in Florence, know someone who is interested, or just want to join us on the overnight trip and maybe do a little volunteer support work let me know. We should be back to full team strength next year but would like to have more riders join us. We will start putting next years team together in about six months where we can do some team preparation and set up some training rides with a couple cowboy cookouts to go along with our "Prime Time Posse" moniker :-)

Regards

Dave Ryan

2007 LaJolla and Lawrence Welk Resort

2007-09-16T15:48:00.001-07:00

Friday September 7, 2007: We finally made it! After six months of waiting, our week vacation in Southern California was here, and coincidentally the timing worked out great as the first weekend away was the La Jolla Rough Water Swim … a one and three mile swim in the La Jolla harbor. I had swum the one mile distance a couple years ago and had a ball. Julie has swum there seven or eight times.

The first several days of our vacation was meeting up with friends for evening social time and the big race on Sunday the 9th … the balance of the trip was taking in sights like Catalina Island, Temecula, Wine Country, and even golfing as a couple for the first time in 15 years!

We have a time share unit that we had only used once before on a trip to Spain but this year we wanted to stay closer to home. We both love California so we chose to look into trading our time share for a unit within driving distance in Southern California. Fran found a unit for trade September 7-14 located in between San Diego and Los Angeles in a city called Escondido at the Lawrence Welk Resort putting us within easy driving distance of both cities. Interestingly, there are not a lot of time share resorts in Southern California for trade so even though we started looking in March … six months ahead of time … many locations were booked. The resort is on 700 acres purchased by LW back in 1963 for $150,000 when there was nothing near it … I’ll venture a guess each acre is now worth a million! There are four sections, or neighborhoods, to the resort each built at different times over the last 30 years. Each section has a pool and some form of community center and the main “shopping district” near the lobby has a pizza hut, convenience store, a 380 seat theater, a restaurant, and a store for buying gifts. There is also an 18 hole regulation golf course as well as a 18 hole short course … for golfers in training.

Fran and I traveled from Phoenix on I10 / I15 directly to the Welk Resort … a total of about 380 miles. We left about mid-morning … I even managed to get a swim workout in at SAC and by 5PM we were within sight of the resort. Simon and Wendy had already arrived in La Jolla and were on the beach when they called us to ask about dinner. After checking in we met them in downtown Delmar at a very nice Italian restaurant at the central plaza. It was so nice to spend time with Simon and Wendy as we have known each other now for close to eight years when our kids were attending SAC age group swimming. We always have a lot to ctach up on.

Saturday September 8: I slept for nine hours … what a treat … although I think I was more tired than if I had slept my normal 6-7 hours! After a slow morning Fran and I went to La Jolla to meet up with our daughter Julie at the cove. I love swimming there … both in the protected cove as well as on the seaward side where some decent waves come breaking in. I got in about 800 yards of swimming by myself in the outer cove and then 30 minutes in the waves with Julie.

Fran and I took our time around La Jolla enjoying the small eateries that line the streets both before and after the playtime swimming. Coming down the day before the race is quite helpful for me as I rarely do ocean swimming and getting used to the seaweed, the huge number of fish constantly around you and the ocean swells gets some of the anxiety out of the way … although I must say looking the 1.5 miles across the harbor and knowing that I would be going out and back the next day did leave quite a few butterflies in my stomach.

Sunday September 9: The La Jolla Rough Water swim is actually composed of multiple events comprising youth short distances, Age Group, Masters, and a “Gatorman” distance … a three mile swim across the bay and back to the cove. The Age Group and Masters events are a competitive one mile that are sent off in waves of about 500-700 people at a time. Arizona Sun Devil Masters / SAC had about 15 swimmers in these events. The Gatorman is the premier event as the 3 mile open water US championship and attracted about 550 other swimmers this year including several swimmers from SAC (Winston, Patty Gray, Julie, and me) and an olympic hopeful or two.

I received some ribbing about this afterwards but I actually count my strokes … I’ve done this for as long as I can remember when swimming long distances. It helps me keep my mind off of how long I’m actually out there. I made the turn on the north side of the harbor in 1,100 full strokes and I felt pretty good … the swells were running about four feet and the water was a little choppy but not too bad. The return leg though was harder … it took over 1,300 full strokes to get back! I’m not sure why … my sighting was good so I kept a steady heading but the swells seemed a little higher and the water a little more choppy … and there were a few times where I felt I was swimming strong but not making any headway as the water pushed and tugged on me. I finally finished after an hour and 37 minutes … not exactly one of the speed folks out there that day but a time good enough for the ultimate objective … a Gatorman tee shirt … a very prized tee shirt that only swimmers who make the cut off time of 1:45 are eligible! Some photos to look for show Fran, Julie and I as well as other photos with various swimmer friends from my Masters swim team.

Monday September 10: The highlight of the day was having dinner with Mike and Sue at “Su Casa” in La Jolla. Mike and Sue went there 30 years ago on the honeymoon. We spent 2-3 hours just sharing stories about our families and teenagers while enjoying dinner, fresh made at the table guacamole and a few margaritas. Mike has a swimming background very similar to me in that he was not a swimmer prior to joining Masters Swimming. I was a runner, Mike was a bike rider and sore bodies led both of us to the pool and building ourselves up to the point where we could even attempt an open water ocean swim.

Tuesday September 11: Fran and I had a bad experience at golf about 15 years ago … Fran thought it was a social thing … I thought it was a competitive thing … we ended up walking off the course and thinking we would never play together again. But the LWR offers some free golf clinics and on Tuesdays it is learning how to swing a club … not how to hit a ball … but the process of how to swing a club through a ball. The instructor was very good and both Fran and I learned quite a few tips … to the point where Fran even suggested playing golf together later in the week. I think she was feeling a little competitive ...

After the golf clinic we went to the Wineries of Temecula Valley. After an outdoor lunch at Baily’s in Old Town Temecula we went down the main road where most of the 20 or so Temecula wineries are located and decided to go to one called VR La Cereza. It was actually quite pleasant there. We tasted a few different wines and ended up buying one called “Tempranillo” bottled in 2005 and meaning … “they loved to dance”.

As we returned from the winery tour I was thinking of the outdoor grills provided by the resort and how I would like to cook a couple steaks one evening. As we pulled into the parking lot I had this thought in my head … and got to wondering if there were cooking utensils either in the room or under the grills. As I got out of the car and headed towards our condo I decided to make a beeline for one of the grills and even noticed a tong on top of the wood surface next to the grill … before I thought about it further I went right over to the grill, noticed it was hot and proceeded opened it … only to hear a high pitched whiney “that’s my chicken”! Fran had her hand over her mouth as I turned to look at a big Grizzly Adams type of guy who was trying to get to me before I could get to his chicken. Talk about acting before thinking … I quickly apologized profusely and kept apologizing and walking with Fran back to our room where we got a big chuckle out of the “Chicken Incident” and the fact the Grizzly Adams was our loud next door neighbor.

That evening we attended “Thoroughly Modern Millie”. Modern Mille is a new play presented at the Welk Resort Theater featuring a large Broadway quality cast. It is about a young woman from Kansas intent on achieving fortune and fame in NYC during the early 1920s. She eventually achieves the fortune part but only after several perilous plights involving failed relationships and saving young women from being kidnapped and sent to Shanghai for the sex trade. It was a nice play to watch starting at 8PM and finishing around 10:45PM … but we felt bad for the cast as the audience gave a polite applause and then went home to bed. But Fran and I were thinking that if you perform the late evening show at the LW Resort don’t expect much of an enthusiastic response for an audience up past their bed time J

Wednesday September 12: Without a lot of planning we decided to go to Catalina Island today … turns out there are several pickup points for the Catalina Shuttle and we left from Dana Point, a very nice area filled with restaurants and shops supporting the wealthy yacht owners of Southern California. A very beautiful place! It was a quick 90 minute trip to Catalina and Fran and I spent about five hours visiting the city of Avalon. Lunch at the Beach House, buying a few shirts at various shops and after a short trolley ride we went on a walking tour of the Wrigley Memorial arboretum. Wrigley Jr owned the island about 100 years ago and bequeathed about 80% of the island as a permanent conservation site. Some photos to look for are from lunch at the Avalon Beach House, the “Dragon Tree” at the Wrigley arboretum, and the streets filled with electric carts. Avalon is only about two miles on a side … so cars are pretty much wasted here … and expensive!

Thursday September 13: Fran and I returned to the golf clinic and learned some basics for chipping this morning. Pretty much the same as for full contact swinging … finding your line, bend at the hips, arms hang straight down, interlaced grip, square feet & shoulders & hips but then pull your feet out at an angle but keep your shoulders parallel to the line to the hole. Whew ... I wanted to write it all down! Seems like a lot when you just want to hit the ball! Then put weight on forward foot and leading arm extended forming a little “y” with arms. Three position back swing (low, medium, high) and the position of the feet prevent the arms from too much of a back swing. No movement of the wrists … it’s all arm movement … from position 1, 2 or 3 depending how far the ball needs to be hit. Club selection is based on loft needed and distance of desired roll.

After lunch at Panera Bread company we played 18 holes of executive golf at the Oak Ridge course at Welk. Most of the holes were 80-90 yards long although a few were a whopping 125 yards. There is a longer course called Fountains but we are a long ways away from being able to use that course. Fran had a number of good shots including a 20 foot putt. It helped that we were almost the only one's on the course so no rushing and we took our time every hole. We played "best ball" and and per hole scores were capped at 5 ... so we got to celebrate the holes where we were successful and by definition we had no unsuccessful holes! It was a nice time together and we got to thinking about when and where we could play next!

That evening I made dinner … OK, not that hard … a couple steaks, store bought salad, and the bottle of “Tempranillo” I had bought on Tuesday but it was nice to cook on the outdoor grills provided by the resort ... and while I was cooking ... I kept looking over my shoulder for Grizzly Adams as I kept reliving the Chicken Incident ....

Bike Ride to the Towers

2007-08-26T12:04:00.000-07:00

Today was not supposed to be a ride to the "Towers" ... a well known turn around point for cyclists at the entrance to Bartlett Lake reservoir. I was intending on waking up early and driving down to South Mountain where today is "Silent Sunday" a no motor vehicles day that lets cyclists and hikers take over the park without the fear of getting run over by someone too intent on getting through the park fast than watching out for others. Ouch ... That sounded cycnical ... but you should see some of those drivers ... scary.

Anyway, Chester went in my room last night and peed on my rug and my comforter at about 3AM. I'm not sure why ... sometimes I think He does not like me and took advantage of me at a weak moment. So here it is 3AM and all of a sudden the room went from smelling nice to smelling not so nice and I had to overcome the urge to not through my dog out the window ... because I don't need an animal abuse charge. So I left Chester to sleep and cleaned up the mess and decided to sleep in. But, instead of driving to the south end of Phoenix I woke up at a reasonable hour and rode my bike north to the Towers. It's about a 39 mile ride round trip ... much faster on the way back because from my house the ride to the Towers seems all up hill.

I've attached a few photos showing view from the turn around point. 12 more miles to get down to Bartlett Lake from that point ... that extra 24 miles of hills turns an enjoyable 39 mile jaunt into 63 mile ride of agony. But the views are spectacular! In the photos you will see "4-Peaks" near Roosevelt dam, Weavers Needle behind the Superstition Mountains, and "Tom Thumb" a granite precipice atop McDowell Mountains. I've even included a picture of the Carefree Town Sundial. All for now.

OK ... I've Had Enough Rain

2007-07-23T20:19:00.001-07:00

OK ... so it seems like it hasn't rained for about six months ... hello, this is the desert! But this past month it has been pretty hot ... about 20+ days where the high was over 110 degrees ... and wasn't even really a dry heat. We have been looking forward to the rain so much and it finally hit us today. The past week spot thundershowers hit various parts of the Phoenix valley but none came near our house. We got a few "blow & go" storms ... big swirls of dust and wind to make us go inside but no rain. Today we got our first good rainstorm and right after the "Monsoon" season officially began. When the humidity gets above 55 percent for three consecutive days is the official beginning of our summer storm season. We can expect about another four weeks of stormy weather not knowing from day to day whether it is our neighborhood that will get hit with a thunderstorm or the worst thing a "Haboo"!

The Haboo is a pretty amazing sight. It does not happen too often but about once every 2-3 years a wall of dust and dirt rises up to a mile in the sky and it can stretch for 10-20 miles across and it looks like a wall moving across the valley. If you have seen the movie "The Mummy" you saw a Haboo there swallowing the plane. It's like that here as well when the Haboo moves through your area it envelopes everything and leaves a dusty dirty place behind. It does not seem to be really damaging ... unless you are caught on the highway ... it's just a big blow & go ... but it is one of the amazing sights you will ever see!

I've attached a few photos of our backyard after the storm today looking over the back fence at the golf course and then one of Fran grilling dinner. All for now.

Some China Stories: Beijing in April 2004

2007-07-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

My experience in China in April of 2004 was actually quite limited ... 3 days in Beijing and 3 days in Shanghai and virtually all my communication was with Honeywell China based personnel but I did have several interesting and sometimes funny experiences that I have not written down so if you will bear with me I'll put some memories to paper ...

BEIJING:
I had one young sales manager who was basically assigned to me for the week by the local Honeywell management. He was there to help me with local language issues and to make sure I got to where I needed to go. Not in a micro manage sense but the big things ... like get to the right hotel, make sure I could find the local office, and to help with office translation as I was often speaking to 10-20 people at a time most who had limited English language ability. He was also there to report back to his boss if people were paying attention to me ... and I'm sure whether I was conveying useful information to the local Chinese sales teams. I got the sense that he felt it was a big deal for him to be assigned to support an American. First in Beijing and then in Shanghai my 'assistant' and I got to speak more freely and he was able to open up and tell me what a big deal this was for him ... to be able to travel between Beijing and Shanghai. He had to have special permission to travel between political jurisdictions ... it seemed this type of travel was forbidden otherwise. And this was just for travel ... let alone wanting to move to another area within the country. He smiled wistfully when we spoke of the freedom of travel between states in the USA or between countries in the European Union. I did not realize how tightly the Chinese controlled movement but with 1.3B people it is far easier to have order when you inhibit movement.

This story brings back memories of when Fran and I were tutoring English as a second language back in South Bend, Indiana in 1990 and I had a young female student who's husband was studying for his PhD in computer science ... she had her masters in computer science. We spent a year together and she picked up English quite nicely. She asked so many questions for things that we often take for granted ... how do we number highways? ... what are zip codes? ... what are area codes? ... how many types of political jurisdictions do we have (county, town, city, state, country, etc)? But the point of the story is that they had to leave their 3 year old baby at home for three years while they came to the US to study. It was to guarantee their return to China. Things changed dramatically during the 1990s as they were able to be reunited with their child and subsequently moved to Chicago ... we still get Christmas cards from them.

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!
In Beijing I had a day to myself and I signed up for a tour of the Great Wall. It was AWESOME! $50 for an eight hour tour ... including lunch. I had a delightful young lady as the tour guide and she spoke excellent English. There were about eight of us on the tour ... our first stop was unscheduled ... the "Official" Chinese Jade Manufacturing Company. We walked into a little store front and the guides inside showed us about four extremely hard working Chinese workers dutifully shaving and sanding and polishing Jade jewelry and ornaments ... showing us every step of the process ... giving me the impression that it took these four workers about an eight hour shift to produce but a few pieces for sale to the public. After about 30 minutes of that we rounded the corner and it opened up into a giant room filled floor to ceiling with unbelievable amounts of Jade ornaments, statues, and artwork. It was incredible! They must have had an army of workers out back ... cause it wasn't those four workers in front who did this! I bought a very nice warrior horse representing one of the four types of horses favored by an ancient warrior emperor.

Now on to the Great Wall! Well ... almost, we got half way there when we stopped at the "Official" Chinese Porcelain Bowl Manufacturing Company. Same deal as the jade place ... four workers up front taking sheet copper, using a wooden mallet to pound the metal into a bowl shape around a mandrel, then 1,000 little hits making the copper conform to the mandrel, followed by 12 coats of porcelain each with a separate kiln firing, and then final finishing and painting. It made me exhausted thinking that these four workers could maybe turn out four bowls a day from their one furnace ... then we turned the corner ... you got it ... a huge room ... a warehouse filled floor to ceiling with the most gorgeous pottery you have ever seen. Little bowls, big bowls, ornate bowls, plain bowls. I bought a beautiful porcelain bowl that sits with my jade horse in our living room. Lunch was on the second floor of the building. A five course affair of delicious food.

Now on to the Great Wall! Well ... almost, we were almost there and we stopped at a location where many of the emperors from the last 3,000 years were buried. Incredible buildings and sights. The most impressive building was held up by tree trunks a 1,000 years old! These trunks were well over 60 feet high and 10-12 feet in diameter and straight as an arrow. The architect of the building specified these trees as the only way that this great building could be built. One small engineering challenge ... the trees only grew in southern China ... over a 1,000 miles away. But like many things in China's history, when the emperor wanted something he gathered enough people and made them do it. There were about 20 of these huge tree pillars each the height of a five story building and they had to be carried, pushed, and floated for over 1,000 miles ... it must have been an incredible sight!

Now on to the Great Wall! Yes, we finally made it. The wall ... its pretty big. If it was hard to picture moving those 20 trees 1,000 miles now I'm looking at a stone wall several thousand miles long 20-30 feet thick and 30-80 feet high and built over 1,000 years ago. But the invasions by the Mongols must have provided plenty of incentive to build the wall so over a period of a few hundred years and with the blood and sweat of over 1,000,000 slave laborers the wall was built. I was able to climb over about a 1 mile stretch of the wall as it traversed steep hills and ravines ... it basically follows the nape of the earth. Sometimes the climb is so steep it took my breath away! At one point I was stopped by a large crowd and they one by one gave me their babies to hold so they could take pictures of me holding their children and with my arms around them. The line was five deep at one point. They loved it. Not sure why but I'm sure they didn't get to see many foreigners and I had a good time sharing a smile and a laugh with them.

After the Great Wall! After climbing around the big wall I thought our tour guide would bring us back to the hotel ... but there was one more stop. The official Chinese herbal medicine center. Seriously, we were brought to a "hospital" with multiple buildings in a compound. It was actually quite pretty and had multiple pictures of "eminent" doctors who had discovered various treatments to benefit the citizens of China. We were asked to choose between viewing the displays and pictures among the halls or to have an opportunity to talk with one of the eminent doctors. Naturally I wanted to meet one of the doctors ... we were led to a small room with little tiny wooden chairs where we waited for about 20 minutes and a nurse who spoke english entered. She asked for a volunteer from among the 10 or so in the room and when no one stepped foreward I raised my hand and became the doctors first "patient". I went to the front of the room and was introduced to the doctor who had a long robe and a long white beard and sat down across from him. He held my hand looking at my palm and asked me if I was feeling any back pain ... well after travelling across the world, visiting the jade and porcelain factories, climbing across the great wall and then spending about 20 minutes on a smal wooden bench I had to admit my back was feeling a little sore. Long story short ... he offered to send to America a special blend of herbs guaranteed to remove impurities and cleanse my kidneys and solve my back pain ... for $50 per month ... and they take Visa. I politely declined and after a short while ended back up at my hotel with some great memories. To this day ... I wonder if the eminent doctor really had something that would make my back feel better ... :-)

That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed the stories. It was fun writing them down.

Next installment ... Shanghai!

Some China Stories:

2007-07-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

July 2007: Turns out I'm heading back to China on August 3rd for a week stay in a city called "Tianjin" just outside of Beijing.

I was in Beijing and Shanghai for about one week and in India for a week several years ago. Pretty interesting ... between the two countries China (1.3B people) and India (1.0B people) they contain about 38% of the world's 6B population. U.S. is the third largest at about 0.3B population and represents about 5% of the world's population. Contrast that with the respective gross national product (a measure of wealth) of the countries; U.S. at about $13Trillion, China at $2.3Trillion and India at about $0.8Trillion. So with 5% of the world's population we have over four times the wealth of China and India combined and they collectively have almost eight times our population.

I've also spent some time in Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, and Australia and I think it is fair to say ... with the exception of Australia, Korea, Japan, and Singapore, the Asian countries have a long way to go to meet what we or the Europeans would consider acceptable levels of water quality, available electricity, roads, schooling for their children, adequate housing, etc. It is absolutely staggering to see the levels of poverty that exist in these countries and yet in the midst of the poverty is a fast rising middle class and an even faster super rich class driving the globalization of their major industries.

It is quite exciting to watch these giant countries find their way forward as their populations become more educated and their standards of living increase. Contrast that with many of the European countries and Japan where populations are shrinking and populations are aging rapidly. It is no wonder that the U.S. is reaching out to China and India so strongly as when we look 20 years from now the countries that will be replacing our European partners in terms of population are currently the source of much of the world's angst ... Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Iran ... and they will increase rapidly to represent 20% of the global population, they are all impoverished and they are all being radicalized. In 20 years we will be down to about 4.3% of global population.

A very interesting and very disturbing phenomenon that is very apparent when overseas looking at the U.S. is the fact that for all the good we do globally and the tremendous influence that we have on virtually every country in the world ... and with all our wealth and education and military strength we spend very little time and effort trying to truly understand other nations ... at least not nearly at the level they try to understand us. My goodness ... a good example of this is the fact that we have over 20% of our population in the southern U.S. is of Hispanic origin and we can't even be bothered to learn Spanish in our schools or study their cultures.

I am absolutely fascinated by this topic as well as global energy ... but that is a whole different story that gets pushed off the national discussion ... to talk about Paris Hilton.

Lake Tahoe June 7-10

2007-06-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Another great trip with my friends from RxRunning! We took two teams to Lake tahoe again this year and had a wonderful weekend. The weather was perfect and after 11 hours of running the 72 miles around the lake our two seven person relay teams were exhausted but came within 10 minutes of each other at the finish!

Fran and I used this for the second year in a row to escape the Phoenix heat and travel to Reno for an evening of rest and then to travel up to Tahoe the following day. We stayed at our usual hotel in South Lake Tahoe and went out for dinner both evenings with our larger group. Saturday night after the race was absolutely beautiful as we had dinner late into the evening on the shore of Lake Tahoe.

Next year ... three teams! This is too much fun!

Dinner Celebration for Fran at Methode Bistro

2007-06-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Fran's first week at her new place of employment we went to "Methode Bistro" south of the Scottsdale / Lincoln intersection. What a great place!

I had purchased a $50 dining coupon from KOOLradio.com for $25 a couple weeks ago and it seemed like a perfect time to use it. Fran had just changed jobs and was so pleased to be hired by what so far looks like a very nice place to work and with good long term prospects. They acquire land and develop it for residential use. They treat her wonderfully and it is only a short trip from our house.

The dinner itself was great. Everything about it ... the bread, wine, appetizer, and main course of Sea Bass for Fran and Prime Rib for me. I would highly recommend this restaurant ... but it is expensive. The Mediterranean Cuisine for two is easily $100 sharing an appetizer and each having a glass of wine ... but the food is so good and the atmosphere casual but I thought elegant.

Here is a link to directions: http://www.methodebistro.net/location.aspx

And a Review: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/0520therest0520.html

Tupelo Visitors May 26-28

2007-05-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

Fran and I hosted four high school girls from Tupelo Mississippi this weekend. They were part of a 40 person church youth choir visiting Arizona and Nevada. They sang for us at church on Sunday and they were awesome to listen to and to watch their youthful energy. Marion, Lizzie, Mary Morgan & Caitlin only spent two nights with us but they were such a treat to talk to and to learn a little bit about life in their town of Tupelo.

We have lived in Phoenix now for eight years so we have lost a little of our memory of when we lived in small towns like Hendersonville (population 10,000 ... on a good day), Utica (population 60,000 ... and shrinking) , South Bend (60,000 ... and also shrinking), or Bellbrook (5,000). Being in a Phoenix metropolitan area of 4M people brings a certain numbness to many things that go on in a big city and memories fade about the simple life afforded in small towns.

Tupelo is known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley and currently stands at a population of about 37,000 people. Talking with the girls brought back a lot of the small town memories that we experienced when our kids were younger and grew up in an environment very rich in simple pleasures. We have lived in six towns/cities before Phoenix and yet never had a fence between us and our neighbors, the schools were close by, there was time to spend with friends, and one time when my hub caps were taken ... the police came to my house to take the report ... it even made the paper the next day :-)

Marion, Lizzie, Mary Morgan & Caitlin reminded me of those times when they spoke one evening about the "trouble" they used to get into when they were younger ... one had "two" timeouts during pre-school ... another got caught eating chocolate toppings off a birthday cake at school and had to sit in detention with her girl friend.

So girls ... thanks for staying with us and I hope we see you again!

"Miss Fran" and "Mr Dave"

Europe Trip to Bracknell and Prague - March 2007

2007-04-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

I went to Europe for a week during March with my boss and several of my peers. Our group is responsible for global activities so we needed to meet up with our European co-workers to develop plans for this year and next. Hopefully, we'll do something like this for Asia in the near future. We ended up working most daylight hours but did have a few opportunities to get out and see a few sights. We did not wander far in Bracknell except for a local shopping district and a nice dinner with local co-workers and did not have time to get into London, but Prague we were able to get out a few times.

Old Town Prague is spectacular! It dates back centuries and the King's Castle actually goes back to the year 900. We had a very nice dinner one evening overlooking the river cutting through downtown, visted the King's castle and adjoining cathedral, and one morning I was able to find my way via local tram to the largest pool in the Czech Republic to do some swimming. It was not easy finding my way there ... I actually tried one day and almost made it but got lost and had to return to the hotel but the next day armed with better information I made it in time and had a nice swim workout. I've attached a few photos of Prague including the hotel I stayed at (Paris Hotel - very nice), the hotel across the street (Grand Hotel Bohemia) and the Podoli pool complex. This is definitely a place worth visiting again!

Julie's First Marathon: The "Lost Dutchman" Feb 18, 2007

2007-02-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

Julie ran her first marathon today! What a beautiful day. Slight overcast and early morning temperatures of 40 degrees warming up to about 65 by noon.

When she mentioned it a few weeks ago I was surprised. She has really been ramping up her running this past few months and did very well in the PF Chang 1/2 marathon in January but I knew her legs were hurting. She was so uncomfortable that it did not occur to me that she would want to do the marathon but she did and I was very happy to go with her as her support crew ... and while I was there I ended up running a 10K. It is quite an impressive event that the city of Apache Junction puts on every year. A full and half marathon, a 10K, an 8K and a 2 mile run. Lots of music and food as well. All in a beautiful park nestled against the scenic Superstition mountains.

Julie got up at 3AM and I got up at 3:30AM to be able to make it to the marathon start. I dropped Julie off at the buses and they brought her six miles into the desert where they had 30 camp fires waiting to let the runners warm up while they were stretching prior to the race start. So Julie started at 7AM while I went and raced the 10K starting at 8AM. After my race I picked up my camera and went to mile 23 ... an absolutely brutal mile marker in any marathon but they had an especially nasty hill right at mile 23 that runner after runner who went by me struggled mightly to get up.

I ended taking a handful of pictures that are attached. They don't do the place justice in terms of stark beauty but two of my favority mountains in the area are "Superstition Mountain" that I have climbed a few times and one shows "4 Peaks" in the distance. I've been near to the 4 Peaks but not climbed them yet. They go up to 8,000 feet and overlook the biggest reservoir in central Arizona "Roosevelt Lake" put in by "Teddy" Roosevelt over a century ago.

The Superstition Mountain area has quite a bit of legend associated with it going back 150+ years where prospectors found gold, were killed, but the gold was rediscovered decades later only to have the miner take the secret to his grave. People still go looking for the old mines and / or hiding places for the gold.

26 mile PF Chang Marathon Jan 14, 2007

2007-02-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

29 degrees at start time in downtown Phoenix!

What a way to start the day at 7AM in downtown Phoenix! Julie and I were entered in the PF Chang 1/2 marathon and full marathon races. Fortunately it was clear skies and no wind.

I think there were about 10,000 people entered in the marathon and about 26,000 entered in the 1/2 marathon ... quite a few folks. Julie ran well and finished in 1:56 and I did pretty good as well running the full distance in a little under 3:32.

The 3:32 time was actually good enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2008 as a 50 year old ... so I felt pretty good about that. I ended up taking a pretty good fall at the 19 mile mark running through old town scottsdale zig zagging back and forth through 90 degree turns. One particular 90 degree bend went from black top to cobblestone and I don't know whether I slipt or tripped but I went down flat on my face. Fortunately, it was cobbelstone and instead of road rash I ended up skidding on my stomach and race number and the tucking and rolling as other runners went by me. As I was tucking and rolling the crowd (yes it was packed intersection) that was previously cheering went silent as they watched me fall and then gasped as I rolled. As I was rolling I was thinking boy that is a pretty cool sound effect ... but then all I could think about was getting up and running again.

I was so proud of Julie. She has run a few of these 1/2 marathons now and runs a pretty aggressive race. There are a few trails near our house and she has been steadily increasing the distances ... and she seems to really enjoy the running and is looking very graceful as she runs. Go Julie!

Glendale Glitters at BCS Block Party

2007-01-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

OK ... it's the first time Glendale has hosted a block party of this size since the move from Tempe but they did a pretty good job of moving the crowd and providing an entertaining evening for a large crowd of Ohio , Florida and local fans of their respective college football teams.

The "Glendale Glitters" theme with many glowing hot air balloons, 1.5M lights, and many shops provided the setting. The Ohio State and Florida State marching bands provided the main entertainment.

Fran and I started out at Glendale Community College and took the free shuttle to downtown. Not too bad ... a 30 minute wait in the GCC parking lot and a 15 minute bus ride to get there. On the way back we lucked out and avoided the whole return line when a bus that was returning people to the GCC parking lot got out of sequence, overshot the pick up point by 100 yards and stopped right in front of us as we were on our way to go stand in line. We felt bad for all the people who had patiently waited in line but .... it sure did feel good to sit in the bus without waiting for an hour

:-O

Round trip it was about four hours from our house. We had a good two hours in the downtown area, enough to see the marching bands, take a walk around the balloons and light show, and have a couple burgers at a local restaurant. One thing we could not figure out was why there were so few places to eat. There were 10's of thousands of people in the downtown area for hours and only a few places serving food or drink.

Lunch at Carlsbad Tavern

2006-12-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

Why write about lunch? I've wanted to go to a place called Carlsbad tavern for a few weeks since I heard about about it from a friend at work so today seemed like a good day to try it. Mom is in town for couple weeks and I was off from work ... so off we went. It's located at 3313 Hayden Road in Scottsdale and true to it's name is a New Mexico themed restaurant.

We had the Tortilla soup and the Roswell Reuben ... and they were outstanding! Right or wrong I often judge a restaurant on whether they can make a good Reuben and these folks really got it right! Now that I've checked it out I'll be back with Fran!

www.carlsbadtavern.com

See reviews: http://phoenix.citysearch.com/review/1683785

30K ARR Desert Classic - Sunday Dec 17th

2006-12-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

Drive as far west as you can on Bell Road ... to the edge of Surprise and that is where the 30K out and back course starts.

I've been preparing for the PF Chang Marathon in January by running in distance races the last few months; a 20K, 10 Mile, 1/2 Marathon and now a 30K. I'm glad that phase is over! My calves have been crampy for the last few weeks and it was no different during the 30K. By the time I hit the 15K turn around point both my calves were pretty tight and by the time I hit 20K I was forced to slow down to a jog. Still ... I finished and that's a good thing. Now I just plan to get healed up, get loose and run shorter distances till race day! Only four weeks to go!

Race Results: http://arizonaroadracers.com/Results/desertclassic30k-2006.html

Dinner at Trente-Cinq

2006-12-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

Our cultural maven Christy brought us together for a wonderful evening of fun, food and conversation on Saturday at "Trente-Cinq" a small restaurant on 7th street. The food was awesome ... even though the much promised Belgian Waffles were no where to be found! Dan & Liz, Fran and I, and Christy and Al had a wonderful meal and lots of fun talking about anything from bicycles, to politics, to kids, to asking ... is life that much different than it was 35 (trente cinq ... hmmm) years ago?

Christy found the place through some reviews in the local papers and after seeing some write ups on line it is easy to see why she suggested we meet there. Liz and Dan had the hallmark muscles dish, Fran, Al and Christy had the lamb, and I had a seafood entree. All awesome dishes!

This is such a fun little group we have here with some shared life experiences related to kids and school, a passion for reaching out to others, and enjoying life!

Trente-Cinq 35 [Map]
2333 N. 7th St.Phoenix, AZ 85006
602-254-0244

From the New Times: Jean-Claude Van Damme, a.k.a. “the Muscles from Brussels,” ain’t got nothing on Lionel Geuskens, the Belgian-born proprietor of Trente-Cinq 35.

From Cenpho Mavens: Trente-Cinq (French for "35") is a Belgian bistro located along a section of 7th Street between Thomas and McDowell Roads that is slowly emerging as a hub of restaurants and shops to service the evolving Coronado Historic Neighborhood. The restaurant's owner and chef, Lionel Gueskens, is a Belgian native who used to be a chef at Coup des Tartes. Apparently Chef Gueskens had a goal of opening his own restaurant by age 35, and Trente-Cinq is the result of that goal.

December 2006: Feliz Navidad y buenas fiestas a nuestros amigos y familia

2006-12-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note for us to wish all our family and friends a Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a wonderful New Year in 2007!

We had a very nice 2006 and there was one special thing that I wanted to be able to say … that 2006 was the year the entire Phoenix Ryan family has Spanish as a second language ... I can’t say that … but at least one person in our family did add Spanish to her skills!

Julie (20) spent this semester in Spain at the University of Alicante studying Spanish, Spanish culture and Spanish history as part of the ASU international studies program. It was a wonderful opportunity for her to experience life and school in a different culture and it turned out pretty well for Fran and me because it gave us a place to visit for our 25th anniversary in November J All things considered … it was a great experience for Julie but homesickness can be a powerful emotion and Julie experienced it strongly. The good news for Fran and I was that it seems like we communicated more with Julie these past three months than we have in several years!

Matt (23) is working for Lockheed and has moved to Gaithersburg, MD as part of his second year of a three year training program. They are also putting him through George Washington University for his MBA. He is doing well at work and school and is a very doting boyfriend to a wonderful young lady “Bri” who is studying to be a theater manager in St Louis. Her studies and internships take her all over the U.S. and Europe and it is fascinating to listen and read about her travels.

Fran and I are doing great and enjoying the western lifestyle going out and about on one thing or another every week. Big treat … we saw the “Rolling Stones” a few weeks ago … I wanted to see them before they or I were dead! We are also enjoying watching our Matt and Julie grow into fine young people as well as watching all our other family and friends progress through their own lives. And while we have been watching everyone progress … 25 years of marriage went by! And the 25th year is one of those special anniversary years so I thought I had better get Fran something better than the cheeseboard and the food processor I bought her during our first year of marriage … Julie bailed me out and gave us a great reason to travel to Spain for our anniversary. We spent a week in Marbella in a time share resort we traded for and then two days in Alicante. Julie’s host family Ana and Luis Sanmillan and their two daughters Ana and Bea invited us over for dinner one night and we were just so pleased to be able to spend time with them and thank them for taking care of Julie for us.

We had a special treat this past summer having Joe and Karen Fortuin give us a call on a Friday evening when they were passing through Phoenix on their way back to Albuquerque. We were able to stay up past our normal 9PM J bed time and actually stayed out until 1AM with Joe and Karen catching up on over 15 years of not seeing each other! It was like we just picked up from where we left off in Utica, NY. Awesome seeing you two!

See my blog http://djrryan.blogspot.com/ for more stories and plenty of pictures. Feel free to leave a message or two on the blog. We would love to hear from you!

Dave and Fran Ryan

13.1 Mile Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon - Sunday 12/3/2006

2006-12-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

I didn't respect the marathon today ... I took it for granted that I would just go run it. My time was OK, 1:36:06 or about a 7:20 pace, but I've been paying for it all day.

http://www.raceplaceevents.com/fbm06res.htm#Male%2045-49

The marathon does funny things to you if you are not prepared ... or if you are not respectful. I had the prepared part pretty well done ... not top shape but good enough for a 7:00 pace. I cruised the 10 mile ARR Thanksgiving day race just a couple weeks ago in a 7:06 pace and felt pretty good during the race and throughout the day. I was overconfident thinking that a few extra miles was not a big deal ... just go run it ... and if there some left over energy I'll stop at LA fitness for a little extra workout. What a dreamer!

The thing about the ARR race on Thanksgiving was I had the previous 12 days off on vacation. I did some running but got lots of rest. It showed on race day as I had no pain and plenty of spring in my step. Today was different altogether ... I had gone to a Christmas party last night and ate and drank nothing that would have been good on a training table. Also, the day before I did a 1 hour swim workout followed by a 1 hour spin class ... and I had done a hard spin class on Friday as well. As a result I had no spring in my step at all and my calves were crampy the last eight miles!

By the time I got home today I was feeling pretty miserable and have felt pretty crappy all day. Next time ... I taper and I watch what I eat!!!